AK names squad for World Cross

The 2010 Bydgoszcz World junior champion Mercy Cherono and 2012 World Junior 3,000m champion Mercy Chebwogen are the only athletes dropped from Kenya’s final team for the World Cross Country Championships named on Monday.

Team manager Paul Mutwii said Cherono has failed to recover fully from a flue that saw her fail to spackle in senior women’s 8km race during the national championships cum trials.

Mutwii explained that they have thought it wise to have Chebwogen concentrate on preparing for the Africa Junior Championships due March 26, this year in Nigeria.

Slow recovery

“Cherono is still under medication. We thought she would recover in time after we offered her a wild card but her recovery has been slow,” said Mutwii. “We have told her to continue her recovery and training for the World Championships due this August.” The World Cross Country Championships will take place on March 24 in Bydgoszcz, Poland where Kenya won all the eight gold medals in 2010.

In 2010, Cherono retained her junior women’s title she had secured at the 2009 Amman World Cross.

Team in training

The National team is currently training at Kigari Teachers College in Embu County  is due to leave the country on March 20 for the World Championships.

Mutwii assured Kenyans that the team was ready to conquer the World by staging a repeat of the 2010 feat.

“Kenya has a rich talent and that is why we have not fallen back to the archives like our main rivals,” Mutwii said. “We have a lot of faith in the team and the country should be ready for surprises just like in 2010 when we fielded greenhorns.”

Earlier, the reigning World junior men’s champion  Geoffrey Kipsang, who had been given a wild card to senior men’s 12km team, failed to report to camp and was axed alongside Bernard Kipkemoi in the junior men’s team.

Kipkemoi was replaced by Michael Bett who was placed seventh at the national trails and will make the final team to Poland.