Sweet memories as national cross country returns to Eldoret city

Beatrice Chebet (L) and Gladys Kwamboka leads pack in the 10KM Senior women race during the National Police Service Cross Country Championship at Ngong Race Course in Nairobi on January 19, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard] Next month, the country's athletics arsenal will be stomping an exciting course in a city where athletics is a religion. When the National Cross Country Championships return to Eldoret after six years, it would be more than the thrillers on the Eldoret Sports Club grounds but more mouthwatering shows would likely be awaiting the athletes and the sport's religious enthusiasts. The national contest was last staged in the City of Champions in 2019 and memories of not only the thrilling competition and the big surprises at the finish line, but an electrifying atmosphere where stars are celebrated whether they've won or have been stunned. The national event set for Saturday February 8 had earlier been scheduled for Prisons Training College in Ruiru. With an already electric atmosphere, weeks to the event, it appears the 2019 dust is yet to settle as the showdown gets back like it never left. Already, the sweet memories of the 2019 showpiece are being rekindled in Eldoret. That time, junior athletics stars stole the show as they stylishly made historic marks before proceeding to smoothly transition to the senior ranks and thereafter making waves on the global stage. Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet, with her diminutive figure dictated the proceedings in the last Eldoret showpiece and earned her national cross country championship junior title, and six years later, she has already bagged two world titles in the senior ranks. Alongside the winner of the junior men's title Samuel Chebolei, the Eldoret event, like other showdowns, was a major springboard to the global arena. Athletics Kenya (AK) President Jack Tuwei announced the change of venue a week ago. "The National Cross Country is coming up next month. The only thing we want to announce is the change of venue. "Initially, we had scheduled the event for Prisons Staff Training College but it has now been changed to Eldoret Sports Club. There is no change in the date," Tuwei said. The change of venue elicited excitement among athletics fans that would have travelled all the way to Ruiru to catch a glimpse of the blistering contests. According to the AK President, athletes participating in the federation's events including the upcoming national cross country must be registered. Eldoret has been the centre of huge surprises. For instance, steeplechase specialist Amos Kirui upstaged some of the country's experienced athletes among them four-time (two junior and two senior) World Cross Country champion Geoffrey Kamworor when the city hosted the event. Kirui, the 2016 world Under-20 steeplechase champion sprinted away from a field that included Kamworor and World Under-20 10,000m champion Rhonex Kipruto to win by a seven-second margin and qualified for the 43rd World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. Kamworor, who finished fifth in Eldoret (2019) went ahead to save Kenya blushes after bagging bronze behind Ugandan duo of Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo who won gold and silver respectively. World 5000m champion Hellen Obiri dominated the senior women's race in Eldoret and at the world stage, she reproduced the same script and brought home the gold medal. In Eldoret, next month, fans will not fail to spot the athletic legends who laid the marker in various events. You will rarely fail to spot in the crowds, Olympic champion from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Kipchoge Keino who has a stadium named after him in the city, three-time Boston Marathon champion Ibrahim Hussein and to the recent greats among them former marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge and two-time Olympic steeplechase Champion Ezekiel Kemboi among hundreds of retired stars who receive red carpet receptions across the globe. Legends who competed in the 1960s to early 1990s will be reminiscing the old days where they ran barefoot as they watched stars racing with modern shoes that give athletes much more comfort. Huge numbers of athletics fans have always gathered to follow events live in Eldoret. Athletics events including the 2019 national cross country and the annual Sirikwa Classic Country Tour have pulled huge crowds. Further, Eldoret events have never been short of mouthwatering entertainments, mostly song and dance. Artists from the Mecca of athletics have composed songs for almost every historic showpiece. A song title Kipchoge was, for example, sung to encourage Eliud Kipchoge to run a 42km race under two hours during the 2019 INEOS 1:59 challenge. Traditional songs that are used to entertain champions at airports rarely miss when the city is hosting athletics events.

Sweet memories as national cross country returns to Eldoret city

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Sweet memories as national cross country returns to Eldoret city

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