Big show is on in Eldoret

• Action expected as top athletes battle for Sh1m jackpot in last leg of KCB/AK series

More than 2,000 local and elite runners are expected at the sixth leg of the Kenya Commercial Bank and Athletics Kenya Cross-country series in Eldoret today.

The battle for the Sh1 million jackpot will be headlined by world cross-country stars Gladys Chemweno and Mercy Cherono as well as upstarts Simon Cheprot and John Mwangangi.

The quartet, who bask in double wins each, will be itching for the top prize as they brave the scorching sun.

The meet, expected to be a mini national cross-country trial, will be the acid test ahead of the national KCB/Athletics Kenya championships on February 20.

The competition venue has been moved from the IOC/IAAF Kipchoge Keino High Performance Training Centre at the Kazi Mingi Farm to the Eldoret Polytechnic because of logistical reasons.

“Most athletes complained of transport hitches to Kazi Mingi Farm,” said Athletics Kenya North Rift branch secretary, Joseph Chelimo.

The assistant coach of Kenya’s team to the Berlin World Championships added: “We have invited all top runners and we expect a huge number of local athletes. The race will start at 8.30am and we are calling on athletes to report early.”  

Former World Cross-country junior champion Chemweno topped the women’s series as a late entrant, posting her two wins in the fifth and sixth legs of the meetings in Kisii and Kapsokwony.

Cherono, a World Cross-country junior silver medallist, registered her maiden win in the first leg in her Kericho homeground.

Cherono, a Form Three student at Saseta Girls in Bureti District, banked on her lead from the gun to tape tradition at the Kericho and Nairobi series to top the junior jackpot leader board.

Chemweno, who wore the national jersey while still a student in Kapkenda Girls High School in Keiyo South, will miss the challenge from her colleague at the Kenya Police, Florence Kiplagat, the World Cross-country Championships senior gold medallist.

However, Cherono’s schoolmate, former World Junior 3,000 metres champion, Veronicah Nyaruai, should offer her a mouth-watering contest.

Out of action

Kiplagat said she will be out of action today as she is preparing for the national Kenya Police Cross-country Championships scheduled for the Ngong Race Course next week.

World Cross-country sensation Lineth Chepkurui will also miss the meeting as she is preparing for the Armed Forces Cross-country Championships scheduled for next week at the Kahawa Garrison.

Cheprot, who has Kericho and Kapsakwony wins on his side, will have to counter stiff opposition from Japhet Korir, who was on the cross-country team to Amman last year, to claim a slice of the jackpot.

Korir, a Form Four student at Kiptere Secondary School, Kericho, needs to either win or feature in the top five at the series while Mwangangi, a prison warder who won the Machakos and Kapsokwony meets, will fight it out with Kisii meet winner, Mathew Kisorio, among others.