AK calls elite x-cross squad to camp

• AK vice chairman Paul Mutwii will be in charge of the camp alongside coaches Dan Muchoki, Sammy Rono and Steven Mwaniki before the National Cross Championships-cum-trials are held on February 16 at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi

They reigned supreme to orchestrate what went down as Kenya’s best show at the World Cross Country Championships.

Joseph Ebuya and Emily Chebet won their respective senior men and women’s 12 and eight kilometre titles respectively to complete Kenya’s dominance at the 2010 Bydgoszcz, World Cross in Poland where they bagged all the individual and team titles.

That performance could have been in Athletics Kenya’s top organ’s mind as they shortlisted Ebuya and Chebet in the squad of 28 athletes that will to attend a 20-day specialised training at the Watakatifu Wote Centre, Catholic Diocess, Ngong.

The selected runners are due to report for a special training camp on Friday as the country bids to replicate their 2010 performance when the World Cross returns to Bydgoszcz on March 24.

AK vice chairman Paul Mutwii will be in charge of the camp alongside coaches Dan Muchoki, Sammy Rono and Steven Mwaniki before the National Cross Championships-cum-trials are held on February 16 at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi.

The national team camp will be at the traditional grounds in Embu.

“Any athlete not able to attend the training camp is required to inform the undersigned or AK in good time to make a replacement,” said Mutwii.

Most of the athletes shortlisted for the camp have been drawn from the just concluded National Cross Country Series that ended in Kericho last weekend.

Chebet, who won four races including the final event in Kericho, tops the women’s probables while Ebuya, who is making a comeback, finished fourth in the penultimate leg of the series in Eldoret.

Hosea Macharinyang, a regular in Kenya’s team at World Cross, has another chance having won one leg besides finishing second thrice in the local series.

Others are Peter Matelong, the younger brother of Commonwealth 3,000m steeplechase champion Richard Mateelong.