However it is run, Kenyans will rule cross country

Alright Kenya cross country team, go out there and do what you do best.

Take Bydgoszcz by storm and not just take the 38th edition of this annual World Cross Country Championships but take it in style, if only to get back at the owners of the event.

The sport’s world governing body, International Association of Athletics Federations, last year decided that the Bydgoszcz World Cross will be the last one held every year. From 2011 the event will become biennial.

They are the ones who, as they sat in puffy leather chairs in one of those meetings held in air-conditioned, five-star hotel halls sipping complementary drinks last year, decided that because of the huge success of you splendid bunch of runners and your wannabe brothers from Ethiopia the tournament could no longer be held every year.

What an affront to success.

IAAF boss Lamine Diack explained then that the sponsors were dismayed by the dominance of East Africans and that the major paying audiences from the First World were losing interest in the event.

That is the ‘thank you’ note you got from IAAF for toiling day in, day out, come rain or sunshine, in sickness and in health, to get at the peak of your game.

Dominance not recent

Were they aware that this dominance is not a recent phenomenon?

Astonishingly, Kenya has won 21 of the 22 senior men’s team titles since 1986. When the Kenyans were not finishing first they were reluctantly settling for second best – except in 1994 and 2002 when they finished a disappointing third.

The Kenya senior women’s team has won eight title since 1991.

Kenya’s John Ngugi was the first man to win the individual senior men’s race five times. His compatriot Paul Tergat was the first to win the individual senior men’s race five times in a row. Only the great Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia has surpassed these records, clinching his sixth consecutive title in Edinburgh in 2008.

Collectively, Kenya filled the number one, two and three positions – that is called a ‘clean podium sweep’ – of the senior men’s long race in 1988 and 1993 and the first two positions in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Remember, cross country is considered one of the toughest running events, competed over rough terrain, on grass, sand and mud. The terrain can be very tough as runners find themselves striding in strength-sapping ankle-deep sand, treacherous mud beds and hazardous grassy mounds.

Emphatic reminder
To, Ngugi, Tergat, William Sigei, John Kibowen, Benjamin Limo and our champions, I say well done guys.

Since the IAAF has decided Kenyans can only showcase their international superiority once every two years, okay, go on, set the Bydgoszcz cross country trail on fire and send an emphatic reminder to the whole world: Whether cross country will be held once every year, twice every year or once every 10 years, you will remain the kings of open country running.

cnyende@ke.nationmedia.com