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Forces pitch tent ahead of national trials in Eldoret

Double world cross country champion Geoffrey Kamworor will be leading Kenya Police Service in this year’s national cross country championships cum national trials to be held in Eldoret on 23rd February ahead of world cross country championships in Aarhus, Denmark.

Kamworor who won his 6th police cross country title last weekend will be returning to Eldoret Sports Club for the national championships, the course he competed and won two Discovery Kenya cross country titles two year ago.

Kenya Police head coach Isaac Kirwa said there shall be fierce battle to reclaim the title they have won for the last ten years now that the championships will be staged in the evening under hot weather.

The team ,which was selected over the weekend is expected to pitch tent in Eldoret ahead of the national trials at Eldoret Sports club as the national cross country championships, for the first time will be held outside Nairobi.

“The battle will be so intense bearing in mind that as Kenya Police service we will be coming to defend our national title as well as Kamworor defending his title. Eldoret is our home and we have nothing to lose at all,” said Kirwa adding that the battle will be high since the championships will be held in the evening away from the normal morning hours.

Decorated Kamworor will be seeking a hat trick at the Aarhus championships to fit in the shoes of former world marathon record holder and current National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) chairman Paul Tergat as well as John Ngugi who claimed four titles in a row.

Tergat won the world title five times in a row since 1995 to 1999 while Ngugi won from 1986 to 1989 and reclaimed it in 1992.

His Kenya Defence counterpart Julius Kirwa was optimistic the championships title will be heading to their camp.

As they set tent at Eldoret Showground Kirwa said setting up a camp in Eldoret will be great for us as we adapt to the weather conditions.

“Eldoret Showground is near the venue that will be hosting the championships and we want to train well to secure the title,” said Kirwa.  

Kenya Prison team will be camping at Prison Staff Training College (PSTC) in Ruiru. Despite having plans to train in the Home of Champion Iten in Elgeyo Marakwet, the team will be hosted at the same venue they held their national championships.

According to head coach Gideon Chirchir, the team is well prepared to capture the title ahead of world cross country championships.

“We have top athletes to claim the national title. The team will start streaming in the camp on Thursday to pitch tent. We be staying in Ruiru but we shall be conducting our training in Ngong. It is a good place for training and it has produced top athletes and we chose this due to its good training environment,” said Chirchir in Eldoret.

Host chairman Abraham Mutai said the championships will be one of the greatest after devolving athletics in the country.

Additional information The Star

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