University of Eldoret (UOE) dominated track and field events during the Kenya Universities Sports Association (KUSA) Rift valley championships staged at Moi University, Annex Ground over the weekend.
Paul Korir of UOE outsprinted Erick Bett from Kenyatta University to claim 5,000m title in 16:32.5 as bett was second in 16:32.8 before Christopher Koyan completing the podium.
Bett dominated the race, taking the lead with just 1,000m from the start but Korir running 20m behind him. With students cheering him to the finish line, Korir increased the speed as Bett showed some tiredness.
With jus 2m to the finish, Korir ran past him to win the race to get a KUSA national ticket to be staged at the same venue next month.
Cynthia Togom led her UOE counterpart Sharon Kemboi to take a 1-2 finish in 1,500m. Togom claimed the title timing 5:00.4 as Kemboi was second in 5:33.2 while Bethwel Kosgei won the men’s race. The Masai Mara University (MMU) student out-duoed Kabarak’s Collins Owando and Evans Obomba to second and third positions.
Kosgei won timing 4:11.7 as Owando was second in 4:56.0 and Obomba’s 5:06.7.
Bethwel Serem (MMU) and Irene Rono (Kabarak) were the winners of the 800m in men and women respectively.
Serem won in 2:007 followed by Kelvin Kitur (2:03.2) from Moi University and Samuel Raiya (2:06.6) from UOE while Rono won the women’s race timing 2:43.1 ahead of Sharon Kemboi (2:46.8) of UOE and Jarice Nkatha of Kabarak in 2:54.5.
The KUSA Rift also consisted indoor games like Scrabble, Table Tennis, badminton among others.