Kenyans jet out for race amid air travel crisis

After a two-day ordeal, Kenyan athletes left for the Virgin London Marathon on Tuesday aboard a special jet.

Olympic marathon champion and London Marathon defending champion Samuel Wanjiru, world champion Abel Kirui, former Rotterdam champion Duncan Kibet and world marathon silver medallist Emmanuel Mutai were on the midnight flight.

The Kenyan party was to make a stop over in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, to pick runners from Ethiopia and Eritrea, among them Eritrean Zersenay Tadese, before proceeding to Barcelona, Spain.

“I can confirm that they have left Nairobi. They left after midnight and I will be meeting them in London on Thursday,” said Mitchel Boeting, Mutai’s manager, from his base in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Boeting also noted that the logistics involved in airlifting the athletes was done by the marathon organisers.

Five days of disruption

“I am also affected by the crisis as my flight has been cancelled. I will now use a train from Amsterdam to London tomorrow (Thursday),” he said.

“Fatigue may affect us during the race and my agent has indicated to me that another jet will pick us in Spain,” said Wanjiru. “I think travelling by road or train from Spain to London may be too much for us.”

After five days of disruption, some passenger flights have been able to take off in London and Amsterdam.

Nick Bitel, the Virgin London Marathon’s chief executive, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper the Gulfstream jet was due to arrive yesterday in Barcelona, which is closer to Britain than Madrid, Spain, where it had been scheduled to land.

“We have contingency plans and, as long as they can get to Spain, we’ve got a way of getting them into London in time for the race. We’ve got a back-up plan that will guarantee they get to London,” said Bitel.

All the Kenyan athletes were forced to seek alternative Schengen visas, alongside the United Kingdom one, to ease their travel. The Schengen visa allows visitors to travel freely in select countries in Europe – excluding UK – as internal air, road and train trips are handled as domestic.

“It is important we have the Schengen visa. You never know where you might end up,” said Kirui, who had a UK and a Schengen visa from the Netherlands.

On Monday night, Japan-based British runner Mara Yamauchi, second in the race in 2009, was halfway to Paris after driving a hire car from Madrid, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Defending women’s champion Irina Mikitenko will travel by rail from her home in central Germany as her home country’s airspace remained shut on Wednesday.

The marathon organisers were also monitoring the air pollution levels in London for any change caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, although analysis of the dust material over the weekend indicated that it does not contain material that is seriously harmful to health.