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This year promises to be one of the busiest for Kenyan athletes as they prepare for major international championships. There is the World Cross Country Championships set for March 29 in Aarhus, Denmark, for which the Kenyan team is in camp at Kigari, Embu County.
The start of Athletics Kenya Relay Series in Nairobi on Saturday signalled the beginning of the selection for the May 11-12 World Relays Championships in Yokohama, Japan, which will culminate in the national trials on April 14 in Iten, Elgeyo-Marakwet County.
Trials for the Under-18 and U-20 teams to the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Championships will be concurrent on March 7-8 and March 21-22 at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. The continental competition is set to he held from April 13-20 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Kenya also hopes to take a strong squad to the African Games (formerly All Africa Games) due August 23 to September 3 in Casablanca, Morocco.
The climax of the season, however, will be the World Athletics Championships, due September 27 to October 6 in Doha, Qatar.
The busy season calls for proper planning and preparation not only by Athletics Kenya officials, but also athletes, coaches and managers. Officials must be vigilant lest athletes suffer burnout.
With Kenya set to host the 2020 World U-20 Championships and the CAA U-18 Championships the same year, AK needs to revive youth training camps. In 2017, countrywide camps greatly contributed to good results by Team Kenya when the country hosted the World U-18 Athletics Championships in Nairobi.
Failure to fund youth training camps will cut off the supply of young talent for Kenya’s athletics teams.
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