Kenyans begin hunt for gold

NASSAU, Bahamas

The joke doing the rounds here is that, lest one forgets, there is actually a world championship event starting Saturday, the inaugural IAAF World Relays Championships.

Reason for this is that because of the beauty of Nassau, the capital of Bahamas, most global scribes have taken to strolls on the white, sandy beaches and many are frequenting the pool bars at the five-star Nassau Melia Beach Resort, the official media hotel for the two-day championships that start Saturday, and the computers at the media centre remain largely unmanned.

What a spectacular venue for the International Association of Athletics Federations to chose for their annual flagship sprints event in a country famous for its sprinters, calypso and reggae music alongside white endless beaches!

The event starts Saturday at 3.30pm local time (10.30pm Kenyan time).

SERIOUS CHALLENGE

And that will pose a serious challenge for the Kenyan team that arrived at midnight on Thursday night (local time) and will have just a day for their body clocks to adjust.

Fortunately for Kenya, the team is dominated by seasoned athletes, frequent fliers, most of whom were in Doha a few days ago for the season-opening IAAF Diamond League meeting and to whom jet lag is not an issue.

“We have considered experience above everything else and we are sure the team selected will give us a few medals,” Kenya’s head of delegation, Athletics Kenya Vice President David Okeyo, said on arrival.

Kenya is expected to grab the gold medals in the men’s and women’s 1,500m where World champion Asbel Kiprop of the Kenya Police Service and newly crowned Africa 3,000 metres record holder Hellen Obiri, a servicewoman in the Kenya Defence Forces’ Air Force, are expected to play key roles.

The programme throws off with the opening round of the men’s 4x200m relay, where Kenya is represented by Steven Baraza, Walter Moenga, Tony Chirchir and Carvin Nkanata.

TOP SPRINTER

The talk of the town in the Kenyan camp has been the US-based Nkanata, who has quietly etched his name on Kenyan sprinting records.

Few will know that Nkanata, 23, holds the Kenya national record in the 200 metres, a 20.32-second dash he recorded last year in Alberqueque, New Mexico.

Even fewer will realise that he also ran the 13th fastest Kenyan 400m dash (46.31), thus easily making him Kenya’s top sprinter on parade when the inaugural championships start at the 15-seater Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in Nassau Saturday night.

Bahamas’ neighbours Jamaica, featuring (including replacement runners) world silver medallist Warren Weir, Nickel Ashmeade, Jason Livermore, Jermaine Brown, Julian Forte and Rasheed Dwyer, are hot favourites alongside the US pool of Wallace Spearmon, Walter Dix, Ameer Webb, Isaiah Young, Curtis Mitchell and Maurice Mitchell.

The final will be run from 8:16pm local time, or 02:16 am Sunday, Kenyan time.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EDGE

Kenya will next be in action in the first straight final of the night, the men’s 4x800m relay from 6:15pm local time (01:00am, Sunday morning, Kenyan time), with the team of (including reserve runner) Alfred Kipketer, Job Kinyor, Fergusson Rotich, Sammy Kirongo and Nicholas Kiplagat.

Kenya come into this race with the psychological edge of holding the world record of 7:02.82, clocked in 2006, and their stiffest challenge could come from, well, other “Kenyans”, led by Kenya-born Youssef Saad Kamel (Gregory Konchellah).

The women’s 1,500m final follows at 7:45pm (02:45am, Sunday morning, Kenyan time) with the pool drawing from Hellen Obiri, Mercy Cherono, Irene Jelagat, Ann Karindi and Faith Jepng’etich.

Obiri and Chepng’etich drew wild cards to the championships, but few will argue with that, Obiri having shown her class in Doha recently with a new African 3,000m record of 3:20.63 while serial junior champion Chepng’etich is fresh from clinching her first senior title, the Africa cross country gold medal, in Kampala last March.

BAHAMIAN HOSPITALITY

On Saturday, Kenya will also run in the men’s 4x400m round one (Mark Mutai, Boniface Mucheru, Alex Sampao, Alex Sampao, Solomon Bwoga) while tomorrow will see finals in that race and also in the men’s 4x1,500m (Asbel Kiprop, Silas Kiplagat, Collins Cheboi, Joseph Magut, Nixon Chepseba) and women’s 4x800m (Eunice Sum, Janet Jepkosgei, Sylvia Chesebe, Cherono Koech, Agatha Jeruto).

“It is my hope that you will find some time, outside the confines of the stadium, to enjoy our Bahamas hospitality, for which the Bahamas has become well known, and experience why we say that ‘It’s better in the Bahamas’,” Mike Sand, the Bahamas Athletics Association president told a visitor.

Well, most of them are already spending plenty of time “outside the confines of the stadium,” if the empty seats at the media centre are anything to go by.

Interestingly, and happily for many of the journalists and other visitors here, the Bahamas will host the second edition of the IAAF World Relays Championships again next year before the event is rolled out to other bidders.