FINAL TOUCHES AHEAD OF TRIALS: Senior women ready for explosive show in Saturday’s cross country
Athletics
By
JONATHAN KOMEN
| Feb 10, 2016
Vivian Cheruiyot will lead a stellar line-up at the Athletics Kenya national cross country championships at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi, on Saturday.
Representing her National Police Service team, the 2011 world 5,000m and 10,000m champion will be up against reigning world cross country champion Faith Chepng'etich in the chase for team slots to the fourth Africa Cross Country championships set for next month in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The spectacle, which will set the stage for 2016 track and field season, brings together best talents in cross-country running.
It will be exciting to watch Cheruiyot and Chepng'etich clash at the trials as the two share glaring identities; both have won world cross country junior and senior titles –and, at best, are now colleagues at the Kenya Police.
David Letting, who guided Kenya's triumphant squad to the 2010 world cross country championships in Poland, said it will be a tough duel.
"I expect the senior women's race to be explosive. Imagine how it will look like when Vivian Cheruiyot takes on Faith Chepng'etich, Margaret Chelimo and Alice Aprot. It's no easy battle," said Letting.
Chepng'etich will be out to prove her mantle as she seeks to take the bragging rights to Cameroon in a bid to reclaim the title she won two years ago in Kampala.
World 3,000m steeplechase champion Hyvin Kiyeng, Pascalia Chepkorir and Margaret Chelimo, who finished seventh at the world cross country championships last year, will spice up the line-up.
The police officers will be keen on arresting their Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) rivals, who include 2015 world youth 1,500m champion Sheila Chepng'etich, 2006 world 3,000m champion Veronica Nyaruai and world indoor champion, Hellen Obiri.
Janeth Kisa, the Africa Cross Country silver medallist, is another star to watch. Cheruiyot and Nyaruai will renew their rivalry - comparable with their days in high school when they competed during the Elgeyo Marakwet secondary school games.
Cheruiyot was in Sing'ore Girls High School, while Nyaruai studied at Kapkenda Girls High School.
Margaret Wangare, who finished sixth at the 2010 world cross in Poland and won the women's 8km crown in the 2013 national trials, will face off with 2008 world cross country junior silver medalist Irene Cheptai.
Cynthia Limo, who ran the shows in the Central Rift meet, is expected to extend her form to the national contest against other new kids on the block that include Gladys Koech, Hyvine Lagat, Viola Jepchumba and Eunice Kioko.
Vasiline Jepkesho, a member of the 2015 Beijing worlds squad, will lead fellow wardens Miriam Muthoni, Pauline Kaveke and Nancy Kimaiyo.
Nancy Nziza, the Africa cross country bronze medallist and Virginia Nyambura, who won the IAAF Diamond League Trophy in Brussels last September, is also in contention and will represent Nyanza North.