The technical committee organizing the great Chepsaita cross country run has finalized all preparations for the mega world class event that will take place on Saturday morning at Chepsaita Secondary School, Chepsaita, Turbo Sub County, Uasin Gishu.
The race CEO, Barnabas Korir, Chairman of Youth Development at Athletics Kenya, commended the Local Organizing Committee for their good work in ensuring proper preparations towards the event, noting that the event has met the high standards recommended by the World Athletics Championship.
Athletics Kenya Chairman for Uasin Gishu and Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Abraham Mutai, affirmed the readiness of the committee in all areas starting from the event itself, the security and the medical noting that they are all set and ready to handle all the emergencies that will emerge during the world class event that will feature athletes from outside Kenya.
He welcomed the public to enjoy the world class event, done locally but of international level.
Kennedy Tanui, the competition director said they have managed to register approximately 10000 people online and they are currently collecting their Bibs.
“All the guests will be seated here in the morning, by 7 am in the morning the national anthem and prayers will be done. By 7.15am the first race which is the patrons’ race will begin, followed by kids of 13-15 years, which will continue till the better part of the day,” announced Tanui.
The last race for the senior men category will begin exactly at 1300hrs.
He acknowledged that it is the most challenging but beautiful course in terms of preparations for the season ahead since it has been designed to international standards.
He pointed out that, Chepsaita cross country run, will be used for ranking the world class events that are there in world athletics and therefore anybody who participates in chepsaita would automatically add points in the world athletics ranking of the events.
The race director hinted that they are expecting a very stiff competition from the international participants and a great family day with participants ranging from 5 years old to 70 plus years competing in different categories.
The World Cross Country Tour Gold level event has drawn the attention of participants from USA, Bahrain, Brunei, Burundi, Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, Somalia and Tanzania.
I will welcome the man in charge of the route and every technical aspect around here, Mr. Ibrahim Hussein.
The technical delegate from World Athletics Pauline Murumba confirmed that preparations have been conducted in a proper way required for the Gold Level event.
“The routes are okay, I have gone around it, there are some final touches to be done which is good. And at this gold level, we expect a lot as world athletics in terms of preparations and the standards must be very high,” she noted.
“On my part I think I have seen good preparations and I am only waiting for the execution,” said the World Athletics technical delegate.
She further explained that there are other aspects of the race apart from the route only, which need to considered like the medical aspect, in terms of what kind of support the athletes are receiving, what kind of media is being done, also how is the prizing, all these aspects are considered to be important by the World Athletics.
Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Dr. Eddyson Nyale, who is also the Chairman of the county security Committee, assured the public that they have put all measures in place to ensure sufficient security before, during and after the event.
The great Chepsaita Cross Country run 2nd Edition with the theme Run For Education, will see students from a total of 10 schools earning scholarships and a total of Sh 6 million prize money to won across all categories.
By Ekuwam Sylvester