The Hotrods Quartet, a team from the University of Nairobi (UoN), has won the Open Lanes Varsity Invitational. They finished the finals with 30 points. Untamed, another UoN team, came second with 28. Kenyatta University’s Endzone was third with 22 points.
The Hotrods Quartet scored 10 points in every race they ran. Their prize is a fully paid trip to South Africa to take part in a race there. This was the first Open Lanes, so they’re its first champions. UoN also topped the university table. The leaderboard shown at the prize-giving put it on 80 points, ahead of Kenyatta University on 58 and Riara University on 50.
Open Lanes is a running competition for university students in Nairobi. It’s run by On, the Swiss sportswear brand known for its running shoes. Six universities took part: Kenyatta University, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Riara University, Strathmore University and UoN.
How the competition worked
It started on campus. The first qualifiers ran at Kenyatta University in mid-September, and three Kenyatta University relay teams went through. A week later, CUEA and Strathmore took six more places after a two-day knockout. JKUAT, UoN and Riara had the last qualifying round after that. Eighteen teams made it to the finals, which were held at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on Saturday 3rd October 2026. Entry was free.
Most athletics competitions are designed for elite athletes. Open Lanes was designed for ordinary students, so its races, which included relays and a steeplechase, were set up for people who don’t train on a track.
In a relay, team members take turns to run a leg each. In athletics, a steeplechase is a race over barriers and a water jump, so it tests endurance and coordination as well as speed. Different races suit different people. So each team had to decide who runs which leg and who takes on which race, and the points from every race added up to decide the title.
The Hotrods Quartet’s captain said: “Every race pushed us differently, and we had to rely on each other to make the right decisions as a team.”
Navalayo Osembo, On’s Director of Africa, said the idea was to “open up the track and give ordinary individuals an opportunity to compete, have fun, and challenge themselves.”
Who gets the trip, and what On hasn’t said
Before the finals, On said it would pick four standout students from across the competing teams for the South Africa trip. The finals announcement gives the trip to the winning team instead.
On hasn’t named the members of the Hotrods Quartet or their captain. It hasn’t said which race they’ll run in South Africa, or when they travel. The race distances and how points were shared out to teams that didn’t win a race aren’t public either. Untamed’s 28 isn’t a multiple of 10, which suggests teams also scored for placing.
Why On is doing this
On has built its name in Kenya through running communities and athletes. In 2025 it held a community run with We Run Nairobi, a running community in the city, at Windsor Golf Club, and more than 500 runners turned up. It has also partnered with Kenyan athletes, including Hellen Obiri, Patrick Kipngeno and Mercy Chepngeno.
On says it wants to inspire young people to experience sport and culture in new ways, and university students are the obvious next group. They’re young, and they’ll be buying running shoes for years. Open Lanes took On’s name on a tour of the six universities for qualifiers in September, then to Nyayo for the finals.
Back in 2024 we wrote that limited access to facilities and low participation hold back grassroots sport in Kenya. Open Lanes is aimed at the second one, and its winners now get to race abroad. On hasn’t said whether it’ll run Open Lanes again next year.
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