Bring back shine on cross country events

The Kenya Defence Forces cross country championships went down yesterday at Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi, with a galaxy of stars and upcoming athletes in attendance. World and Olympic 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri easily won the 10km women race. She was expected to face stiff competition from world half marathon record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei who had also lined up for the 10km race, but was forced to drop out.

The fact that the two stars lined up for the race is good news and should motivate our young talent to participate in such events. It demonstrates that our world beating stars are willing to take part in local competitions and help raise the profile of these sports meetings.

Similarly, big names are willing to be part of Kenya’s team to the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark in March. Recently, there has been talk that cross country was losing its glamour, but the fact that the likes of Obiri and Jepkosgei are willing to race at the KDF championships ahead of the National Cross Country Championships is encouraging.

Other big names like Geoffrey Kamworor, Cellilphine Chespol and Alice Aprot are also expected to line up today in the Kenya Police and Kenya Prisons cross country meets and hopefully are eager to make Kenya’s team to the World Cross.

The presence of these big names will bring back what was seen as lost glory of cross country, and ensure we have a strong Kenyan team at the World Cross Country event. We, therefore, urge these stars to turn up for the disciplined forces championships, and then fight for a slot in the Kenyan team.