by Justin Lagat
This was an exciting week in Kenyan athletics, and Justin Lagat updates us on all that is happening…
Everything may have happened for their interest and well-being, but it has been such a confusing week for Kenyan athletes.
If one were a traveler who likes to book their hotel rooms in advance and wanted to attend the first Athletics Kenya (AK) track and field meeting, then they would have had to book a hotel in Bondo, cancel it and book one in Maseno, then cancel it again and finally book it again in Nairobi; all these in one week!
The event had been scheduled to take place on 26th to 27th February in Bondo before the venue was changed a few days ago to Maseno University Stadium near Kisumu, then changed again on Wednesday to Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium. The date has been adjusted, perhaps for the message to reach all the interested athletes, to 27th and 28th.
However, some athletes and officials see it as a blessing in disguise given that athletes will get the opportunity to use a state of the art facility that could even earn them qualification standards for the Olympic Games. There have been very few opportunities for athletes to compete and try to get the qualification standards and so many are eager to try their luck given that there will be only three AK track and field meetings happening before the national championships and Olympic trials later.
After such a long time of lack of track competitions in the country, the first track and field meeting will probably have a lot of surprises, emerging stars and huge disappointments.
It will be interesting to follow given that the upcoming track and field meetings will determine who will eventually be invited to the national trials in June for the Tokyo Olympics.
Despite the venue changes with short notices, Athletics Kenya did a splendid job in ensuring that the meeting went ahead.
There were some other disappointments in the week when the African Cross Country Championships that were to happen in Togo next month were postponed indefinitely. This happened after the Kenyan athletes were already in their training camp preparing for the event.
Also on Wednesday, Athletics Kenya issued a travel advisory to Kenyan runners who were planning to travel for Sunday’s Kilimanjaro Marathon in the neighboring Tanzania to abandon their travel plans due to the COVID19 situation in the country.
