Athletics: Malindi to host Coast cross country battle

Taita Taveta County athletics team resumed camp Wundanyi Stadium yesterday ahead of Saturday’s Coast region cross country championships in Malindi.

The team has been sponsored by the Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja. They will travel to Malindi for the championships to be held at Kijiwetanga Primary School.

Athletics Kenya Coast region chairman Dimmy Kisalu said Taita Taveta will defend all the six titles they won last year.

Kisalu said Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi and AK President Jackson Tuwei will grace the event.

“Arrangements are in top gear and advance team is already in Malindi for planning,” said Kisalu, who is also the AK deputy treasurer.

He said the six counties in Mombasa, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Kilifi, Lamu and Tana River will present their teams in battle for slots to IAAF Permit meet/national trials set for Eldoret Sports Club on February 23. Taita Taveta will face stiff challenge from hosts Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa counties.

Meanwhile Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega and Jarret Eaton, the World Indoor Championships silver medallist, will face-off in the 60m hurdles at the PSD Bank Athletics Meeting in Dusseldorf on 20 February, the final stop of the 2019 IAAF World Indoor Tour.

The pair have split their two head-to-heads on the World Indoor Tour this year, Ortega clocking a quick 7.49 to win in Torun on 6 February before Eaton evened the score two days later in Madrid, edging the Spaniard by a scant 0.01 in 7.56.

Eaton, a two-time US champion in the event, sits atop the World Indoor Tour standings with 25 points after three competitions, eight ahead of Ortega. [Ernest Ndunda]