Kenyans ready to conquer in China

Ask any Kenya to mention a place or feature of China and you are most likely to hear Beijing, the capital city or Ghuangzhou, a major transportation and trading hub.

Perhaps the more educated ones will mention the Great Wall of China and some of the ancient dynasties like the Ming Dynasty, Qin Dynasty or Manchu-Qing Dynasty.

But Guiyang? Err, where is that, was the response I got when I mentioned that to one of my senior editors when I was seeking clearance to make this tour.

At the Chinese Embassy, persons in the long queues seeking a visa to travel to the country invariably said Ghuangzhou was their destination.

Eyebrows were raised, I sensed, for my back was turned to the other visa seekers, when I confidently stated Guiyang as my destination to the severe but beautiful Chinese visa official at the other side of the glass partition.

“It is in the south east of China. It is the capital city of Guizhou province and will host the 2015 World Cross Country Championship. Its population is about the same size as that of Nairobi,” I told her to show I had done my homework.

If she was impressed she did not show it, instead paying closer attention to my submitted papers.

RICH IN BAMBOO

This city is also known, according to a tourist promotional material, as “Zhu” in short because the city was rich in bamboo in ancient times.

Guiyang boasts a beautiful lake and mountain scenery that creates a truly romantic atmosphere, so travel literature says.

Romance will certainly not be in the air but belligerence when Kenya, the most successful cross country running nation, hits the trail to hunt for the four individual and four team gold medals with expected resistance from traditional foes Ethiopia, and possibly Eritrea and upstarts Uganda.

Already, the championship in Guiyang will be bigger than the past three editions. According to IAAF an expected 447 athletes from 51 countries are set to compete here, surpassing the numbers from 2013 (400 athletes from 41 countries), 2011 (423 athletes from 51 countries) and 2010 (437 athletes from 51 countries).

When Team Kenya departed Nairobi on Tuesday they declared they would be going for nothing less than the entire individual and team gold medals on offer, a braggadocio statement one would conclude that would otherwise have been dismissed but for the ominous facts of history.

Kenya swept the board clean at the 2010 championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, but lost the senior men’s gold and junior men’s team gold to Ethiopia in 2011 in Punta Umbria, Spain.

Kenya again took all gold medals on offer in Bydgoszcz 2013 but for junior men individual, junior men team and senior men team.

Ethiopia, Eritrea and lately Uganda, be warned, Kenya means business. I can’t wait for the races on Saturday and to write another chapter on Kenya and cross country running at its very highest level.