SINGAPORE — Doping is a real problem in Kenya, and it is in danger of spiralling out of control, said Kenyan national long-distance runners Sharon Cherop and Evans Cheruiyot.

Even young athletes who have just joined the national team are asking the seniors about the different types of drugs they could take to boost their performance, Cherop and Cheruiyot told TODAY on the sidelines of the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS) elite runners’ pre-race press conference.

Cheruiyot, 33, bronze medallist at the IAAF World Road Running Championships, revealed: “Even when I won the 2007 championships then, the sports officials did not want to give me any running shoes and equipment. They wanted me to bribe them. They are corrupt. Over the years, some officials have also approached me asking if I needed any help to cover up (doping).

“It is a big problem because it is a cycle. The young athletes joining the sport now are asking the seniors how to take drugs to help their performance. Some of us are shocked.

“I think because here in Kenya, every (national) runner is strong, and everyone is fast.

“So to only be at the top and be the strongest, sometimes some of them are eager to take the short cut (doping).”

Last month, a group of Kenyan athletes occupied the headquarters of the sport’s national governing body, Athletics Kenya, and stopped officials from getting in. They reportedly accused officials of corruption and blamed them for failing to deal with doping.

Cherop, 31, who won the 2013 SCMS women’s marathon in 2:41.11 last year, said that she and her fellow teammates are at a loss over what to do to help clean up Kenya’s image.

“The officials are corrupt, and we want them to retire,” said Cherop, who has a personal best in the marathon of 2:26.28. “A few athletes — and officials who are helping them — are bringing down the reputation of Kenyan athletics, and the clean athletes want these people to leave the sport.

“We will have a new association soon, I am confident of that,” she added. “It will be soon.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has already warned that Athletics Kenya could be banned from international competitions for four years — including next year’s Olympics — if the nation does not step up its efforts to fight doping.

Cherop said she fears that the Kenyan athletes will suffer the same fate as the Russian track-and-field athletes who were banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from taking part in international competitions indefinitely.

“I am angry, because they bring down the name of the whole Kenyan running community. So we want more checks and more help from IAAF too and WADA,” she said.

This year’s SCMS, held today and tomorrow, sees close to 50,000 runners.

The local names leading the men’s marathon will be 2013 South-east Asian Games marathon champion Mok Ying Ren, Soon Suan Boon, Ang Chee Yong and Ramesh Palaniandy. Mok’s sister, Ying Rong, along with Rachel See and Neo Jie Shi, will lead the local women’s challenge.