TRIALS ON COURSE: Athletics Kenya boss says event still on

Athletics Kenya president Isaiah Kiplagat (Left) and sports secretary Kiplimo Rugut during the Ndalat Gaa cross country competitions held at Mosop Constituency in Nandi County over the weekend. Kiplagat told off his detractors maintaining that he will not bow out from AK. 12.10.2014. Picture by Peter Ochieng.

Athletics Kenya (AK) President, Isaiah Kiplagat, and a section of athletics officials reacted angrily to calls by Professional Athletes Association of Kenya (PAAK) for athletes to boycott the IAAF Permit Meeting/AK national cross country trials at the Uhuru Gardens on Saturday.

Kiplagat, an IAAF Council member, told off PAAK and the 14 branch chairmen, who have threatened to disrupt team selections to the 41st IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang, China, on March 28, where Kenya will be on a title defence bid.

Last week, PAAK announced that the association, which brings together a sizeable number of elite athletes, would marshal athletes into boycotting the trials in a protest move to have Kiplagat (Isaiah) step down from the helm of Kenyan athletics at Riadha House.

The competition, Kiplagat said, is a national event and attempts to disrupt it would derail Kenya’s bid to continue its winning tradition.

“This is a national event and we cannot allow some people to disrupt it. We shall be at the venue and anyone who will try to disrupt the event will face the consequences,” Kiplagat said without elaborating.

Kenya and Ethiopia are the most successful countries in the world championships’ history, winning 120 of the 158 available team titles.

The two nations have met 120 times where both have fielded full teams, with Kenya beating Ethiopia 79-42.

Kenya has won four individual senior women’s titles and expected to re-affirm their supremacy in Guiyang.

Kiplagat added: “The regions have already sent their teams and we are set for the event. There should be no cause for alarm. I can assure you that all the athletes enlisted for the event will be running, including from regions from the rebel chairmen.”

Speaking in Eldoret yesterday, IAAF Athletes Representative, Benjamin Limo, and former Olympic 1,500m champion Noah Ng’eny said it would be inappropriate to miss out on a crucial task due to political reasons currently marring athletics in the country.

“Athletes should be given a chance to compete in this biennial event so that they can improve on their sporting career without interference,” said Limo.

He added that the races will be prudent to those in the junior category who want to make a name in the sport before they transit to the senior category.

Limo, who is also Central Rift Athletics Kenya secretary, acknowledged that there are challenges affecting athletics with many doping cases among athletes, but insisted on the need to respect the sporting calendar and finding an appropriate time to sort out on other pressing matters.

“Athletes have been asking whether we should attend the Trials or not. It is appropriate for them to attend,” he added.

AK North Rift chairman Michael Rotich and Japhet Kemei (South Rift) also confirmed that their teams will arrive in Nairobi tomorrow for trials.