Over 1,500 athletes are set to face off at the second leg of Athletics Kenya track and field weekend meet at the Nyayo stadium in Nairobi.
Athletics Kenya Nairobi chairman Barnaba Korir said the athletes registration ended at 3pm EAT to ensure that they plan well for the event that kicks off at the two day event that starts tomorrow to Saturday.
Korir said that the meeting being part of the World Athletics Competition rankings, many athletes will be chasing top positions where the results will be featured on the World Athletics Global Calendar.
This means that the results can be used by World Athletics for statistical purposes such as entry standards, world ranking, top list, records among others.
Korir said that as organizers, they are under pressure on how they will handle the big turnout of athletes but they are working on the modernity to ensure that all athletes compete fairly.
“We are working on how to manage the big number. I requested for three days to avoid any embarrassment but that did not work. Meaning we shall run even at night by use of stadium floodlights to ensure that the meet is a success,” said Korir.
With the dateline of athletes registration set at 3.00pm on Thursday evening, Korir affirmed that in the next event, they have to close the registration dateline five days to the event to avoid last minute rush.
“The five days registration closure will help us plan well and send the names to Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), World Antidoping Agency (WADA) and Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) for testing so that we have lean athletes,” explained Korir.
He said, the rule is to assist the athlete to compete fairly.
“In future, all athletes who should run must be registered in the anti-doping pool. We have seasoned athletes, newcomers among others so it will be easier for us to know each athlete running. Sometimes, we may be asked about a certain athlete but we lack their data but once they register early, we are able to know them and incase of any doping test, we have knowledge,” he added.
Apart from the meeting, Athletics Kenya announced that the event will be doubling as the trials for the East and Central Africa Under-18 and Under-20 Athletics Championships set for March 10 to 11 in Tanzania.
The events to be competed in are 100m, 110 hurdles, 200m , 400m 400m/hurdles , 800m, 1500m, 3000m SC, 5000m, 10,000m 4x 100m and 4x 400m relays.
The field events will include the long jump, high jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, hammer and javelin.