Ever wondered why the Olympic 800m champ and her M11 Track Club squad skip the legendary high-altitude camps of Kenya for Potchefstroom?
While Kenya is the “Home of Champions,” Keely and coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows have a very specific strategy for choosing South Africa.
Kenya’s Iten sits at a massive 2,400m, but Potch is at a “moderate” 1,350m—the perfect “sweet spot” that boosts red blood cells while still allowing Keely to hit the explosive, raw sprint speeds an 800m specialist needs without overtaxing the body.
Plus, while the UK is freezing, South Africa offers the bone-dry heat necessary for those “killer lactic” sessions and “hellhill” sprints that define their regime.
Beyond the track, the team loves the local “café culture” and familiar infrastructure, which allows them to “switch off” and recover mentally in a way that’s harder in more remote locations. With their dedicated medical “war room” and elite facilities already dialed in, South Africa has become the ultimate “safe place” where the world’s fastest woman gets the job done! 
