There is a road sign on the way into a small town in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, about 350km north-west of Nairobi. It reads: Welcome to Iten — Home of Champions.

It is not marketing. Iten sits at roughly 2,400 metres above sea level, and the thin air, the red dirt roads and the hills have made it the most concentrated training base for distance running anywhere in the world. Eliud Kipchoge has trained in the region. So has David Rudisha. On any given morning the roads out of town fill with groups of runners moving at a pace most of us couldn't hold for a kilometre.

We took our products there and asked them to try it.

Why Iten, and not a lab

We could have commissioned a study. We could have paid an ambassador. We did neither, for a simple reason: the runners in Iten have no particular incentive to be polite about a Korean energy gel they've never heard of.

These are people who run for a living. Fuelling is not a lifestyle choice for them — a product that sits badly in the stomach, or that they can't open on the move, is a product that costs them money. If it doesn't work, they will say so.

What they told us

We filmed the conversations rather than paraphrasing them, so here is what was actually said.

Isaac Njoroge, a professional runner from Kenya, on the gel:

"I get a good energy."

Samson Kipkosgel Rutto, half-marathon best of 1:12:44:

"The difference is, Potential Gel for me is good."

Elkanah Ngeywa Ndiema, half-marathon best of 1:03:26 — a genuinely elite time — on the hydration:

"Hydro 50 is very, very good."

The feedback that came up more than once had nothing to do with marketing claims. It was about the practical things:

  • How it goes down. "It's soluble" — the texture matters when you're breathing hard.
  • How it opens. "You just see there, you just so easy to tear" — a gel you can't open with sweaty hands mid-race is useless.
  • What happens after. "It gives me an instant recovery." "I find like my recovery has just come instantly."

And, from one of the runners we spoke to:

"Absolutely, I will recommend everybody."

What this does and doesn't prove

We want to be straight about this, because we've just spent an entire article elsewhere on why verifiable claims matter.

Filmed testimonials from a handful of runners are not a clinical trial. They don't establish a performance benefit, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. Individual experience varies, and "instant recovery" is how somebody described how they felt, not a physiological claim we're making on their behalf.

What it is: honest, unscripted feedback from professional distance runners in the most demanding running environment on earth, on the two things a fuelling product has to get right — whether it sits well and whether you can actually use it while running.

That was the test we wanted, and it's why we went to Iten rather than staying in a meeting room.

What we changed nothing about

One small point of pride. We went there prepared to hear that the flavour was wrong for that market, or that the sachet was awkward, or that the gel was too thick. The packaging feedback in particular — the easy-tear top — was the thing most often mentioned unprompted, and positively.

The formulation the Kenyan runners tried is the same one on our shop page today: 40g sachets, 26g of fast-absorbing carbohydrate, and a caffeine-free version for runners who don't want the stimulant.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Iten and why does it matter for running?

Iten is a town in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya, at roughly 2,400m altitude, about 350km north-west of Nairobi. Its altitude, terrain and training culture have made it the best-known high-altitude training base in distance running, nicknamed the "Home of Champions".

Are the runners in the video paid ambassadors?

They were runners we met and filmed in Iten giving their own reactions to trying the products. We've published what they said rather than a scripted endorsement, including the practical criticisms about texture and packaging that shaped how we talk about the product.

Does this mean the gel will improve my performance?

No — and we won't claim that. Filmed feedback from individual athletes is not evidence of a performance benefit. What it does show is how the product performs on the practical measures that matter mid-run: how it goes down, how easily it opens, and how people felt afterwards.

Is the product sold in Kenya the same as the one sold in Singapore?

Yes. The gels tested in Iten are the same 40g / 26g carbohydrate formulation sold on this site.

See the full range on the shop page, or read about our Informed Sport certification.