BANKING ON JAPANESE STYLE: For Karoki, Barsoton, they will be 'home' away home in Guiyang

Bedan Karoki wins the 12km senior men race during the IAAF Permit/KCB National Cross Country Championship at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi on 14-02-2014.PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO

The national athletics team will arrive in Guiyang, China, for the 41st IAAF world cross country championships just two days before the bi-annual global showpiece.

But Leonard Barsoton and Bedan Karoki, who live and work in Japan, do not lose any sleep over the limited time to  acclimatise.

Barsoton, who works for Nissin Food Productions in Tokyo, said he is grateful as he heads for a second stab at the world cross country championships in a rather familiar land.

“Japan and China are low altitudes, which is good for speed work. I just came to Kenya to train in high altitude and hope to do well. I am used to the Asian weather conditions,” Barsoton said on Wednesday after a training session at St Mark’s Teacher’s Training College in Kigari, Embu County.

Barsoton, who won silver at the 2013 world cross country junior championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, said: “I am used to the winter conditions in Japan, which is more less the same as China and I need to use it to my advantage.”

The runner from Mosoriot area in Nandi County said he learned some ‘running in the wild lessons’ at the 2013 contest in Poland.

“The competition laid my strong foundation and it was just like a nursery school before the main one — seniors. I would be happy if I perform well and set the bar high. After the world cross, I will prepare for trials to World Championships (in Beijing, China). I expect a good season,” he said.

Karoki, who will be making his debut in world cross country championships, wants to join the elite club of greats from Nyahururu (John Ngugi and Joseph Ebuya), who have won world cross country titles.

“I badly need a world title and I don’t want to let John Ngugi down. I really admire his five wins at the world cross country. Nothing can stop me from performing well,” he said.

Karoki stands out among Kenya’s highly talented athletics stars and, unfortunately, he has no world title under his belt.

“Cross country favours me and I hope this is an opportunity to win a medal. There is huge difference between competing in world championships and in the IAAF Diamond League series. In the world championships or Olympics, athletes wait for final kicks. This is also unlike the world cross country, where there are obstacles and barriers along the course which needs skills.

“We lost in London Olympics 10,000m final due to poor calculation in the last four laps and we were beaten with 200m left,” said Karoki.

He plans to polish up his speed at the Diamond League meetings.