COVID-19 forces athletes to sprint to Nairobi for races

The threat posed by Covid-19 pandemic on sporting events is not over yet and the 2021 track and field meetings are bearing the brunt.

It began with the moving of all the four Athletics Kenya relay series to Nairobi earlier in January.

In the latest move, AK has moved all weekend track and field events to Nyayo Stadium as the federation battles to stage athletics events under strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols.

In a statement, AK said it had moved both the second and third legs of the track and field meetings, which were to be held in Embu and Mumias respectively, to Nairobi.

According to the athletics body's calendar of events, Embu Stadium would have hosted the track and field meet this weekend (March 12 to 13).

Mumias Sports Complex was to host the event on April 2 and 3. AK did not change the dates.

The weekend meetings are part of build-ups ahead of the national championships that will also be the trials for the Africa Senior Athletics Championships planned for June 1-5 in Algiers, Algeria as well as Tokyo Olympic Games.

In the statement, AK cited strict adherence to Covid-19 health protocols and financial costs involved in planning and hosting the event outside Nairobi as the key reasons for the change of venues.

“The effects of Covid-19 pandemic have adversely affected the hosting of sports locally and internationally.

"The results of these effects being cancellation of events or hosting them under strict terms while following protocols put in place,” the AK statement read in part.

AK apologised to track stars who were to compete in the two weekend meetings before the sudden changes.

“Consequently, Athletics Kenya has now centralised the 2021 track and field weekend meets to Nairobi. The meets, which were previously to be held in Embu on March 12 and 13, 2021 and Mumias on April 2 and 3, 2021, will now be held at Nyayo Stadium, on the same dates,” the federation announced.

Last month, the first meet, which was to be staged in Maseno and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga universities, was moved to Nairobi.

All relay meetings had been moved to Nyayo National Stadium starting from January 9.

The North Rift region had been scheduled to host the second leg on January 23 while Kericho Green Stadium was to host the third leg on February 6 before the competitions were moved to Nyayo Stadium.

Athletes competed in the six relay events including 4x100m; 4x200m; 4x400m mixed relays and 2x2x400m and embarked on the preparations for the World Athletics Relays in Poland.