The event was inaugurated in December 2006 with its soft grassy course located in the Huruma area four kilometres west of the centre of Eldoret (a town renowned for long-distance running).
[1] The first edition was known as the Tuskermatt Cross Country, but this changed to its current title the year after.
The competition quickly attracted a high number of top level runners in the region and by 2008 the senior men's race alone garnered some 250 entries.
[4] Although the event attracts almost exclusively Kenyan runners, the calibre of the competitors is very high, such is the country's strength internationally.
[6][7] Among those to have won the junior races, Leonard Komon, Mercy Cherono, Daniel Salel and Purity Cherotich Rionoripo have gone on to win World Junior Cross Country medals.