Bosnian athlete to compete in Mombasa races

Bosnian Daniel Cekovic (left) and Mombasa-based Zolo Mutuku train at the Mombasa Municipal Stadium on Thursday for the 6th New KCC/Athletics Kenya weekend meeting due at the venue on Friday. Both athletes will also feature in the 24th Mombasa International Marathon on Sunday. Photo/ GIDEON MAUNDU

30-year-old Daniel Cekovic will on Friday be in action at the Mombasa Municipal Stadium when the two-day New KCC/Athletics Kenya weekend meet starts.

The Bosnian runner, a sports management student, was on Thursday morning warming up at the stadium in preparation for the 400 metres race. The athlete said he had been training for the past seven months in Iten under Renato Kanova, who also coaches Moses Masai.

He has been in Mombasa for the past 10 days and trained twice daily at the stadium, he added. “I’ve trained hard and I am in tip top form and looking forward to finishing in the first three places in the 400m race,” he said.

The Bosnian, who was training with a local runner, Zolo Mutuku, confirmed his participation in the meet’s 5,000m and the 10km race at the 24th Mombasa International Marathon on Sunday. Both athletes are to take part as individual entrants.

Mutuku, who completed the 2008 marathon race for the distance in 28th position, said he was confident to do better this time. “I started my training early enough and I have the energy to do well. I intend to finish among the top ten,” he said.

Municipal Council of Mombasa workers were busy putting final touches on the venue on Thursday. The stadium manager, Hamid Abubakar, who was supervising workers, said they had completed all major preparations save for markings.

“We shall do the markings early tomorrow (Friday) morning because we are afraid the rains could spoil the markings if we did it early,” Abubakar said.

Meanwhile, another Tanzanian has confirmed his participation in the marathon, taking to five the number of Tanzanians who will participate in the race, Athletics Kenya Coast branch secretary Felix Ngala said on Thursday. Ngala said he expected a bumper entry on Sunday, adding that AK had invited several local teams for the marathon.