‘Running pilot’ to land for AK cross country meeting

Dutchman Gert Brienne poses for a photograph with his Martinair Cargo plane in Amsterdam. The pilot with an insatiable love for running will feature at the National Cross Country Championships in Nairobi on February 10, 2018. PHOTO | FILE |

What you need to know:

  • Focus is on Saturday’s national cross country championships.
  • Pilot with insatiable love for running to feature at national championship races.
  • There will be no repeat champion because Richard Kimunyan and Sandra Chebet, winners last year, are shifting focus to the senior ranks.

Dutchman Gert Brienne is a cargo pilot with an insatiable love for running.

After cruising tens of thousands of feet above sea level on Martinair Cargo (part of the KLM family) or KLM Cargo planes, he will always synchronise his ground schedule to throw in a morning or evening run.

Kenya is one of his most cherished destinations, and he often sneaks out of his airline hotel to eat up a few kilometres on the road before getting back into the cockpit to the flight back to Amsterdam or other destinations on his cargo delivery mission.

His love for flying and running has earned him the nickname Rubani Mkimbiaji (the running pilot, quite literally) among his Kenyan friends.

This weekend, he will be lucky to find himself in Nairobi at the same time as Athletics Kenya’s Lotto-sponsored National Cross Country Championships at Uhuru Gardens on Saturday.

Not surprisingly, Rubani Mkimbiaji confirms he will be on the starting line for the senior men’s 10-kilometre race.

“Get ready for Saturday because Rubani Mkimbiaji will be running around Uhuru Gardens,” he told from Amsterdam Nation Sport.

“I’m flying tomorrow night (Thursday night) from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, and then on Friday continue the journey as a passenger to Nairobi. Arrival time: 20:00 — just in time for the national cross country championships.”

Rubani Mkimbiaji aside, on the business end of these championships, a nerve-racking battle awaits both junior races.

There will be no repeat champion because Richard Kimunyan and Sandra Chebet, winners last year, are shifting focus to the senior ranks.

CLAIMED BRONZE IN KAMPALA

The 2017 World Under-18 Championships 3,000 metres silver medallist Edward Zakayo and the 2015 bronze medallist at the same age-group competition, Japan-based Wesley Ledama, go head-on in men’s junior race.

It will be the first time for Zakayo to run at the national cross country meet while Ladema finished third last year where Kimunyan reigned supreme.

Kimunyan went on to claim bronze at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala while Ledama came in 10th.

Zakayo will spearhead the North Rift team that has the likes of Abel Kiplimo and Robert Kiprop while Ladema, who got a wild card, leads a Nairobi team that has Isaac Kibet and Ronald Kiplagat, among others.

World Under-18 Championships 2,000m steeplechase champions Leonard Bett, who makes the South Rift team, will be out to stop Zakayo and Ladema.

“Obviously, it’s a tricky field with everyone having equal stab at the title,” said Ledama, who is has been training in Bomet after arriving in the country a month ago.

“Personally, I have picked up training well having recovered from a bad cold and flu.”

Another interesting entry is that of Justus Soget from Central Rift. 

Soget grabbed the headlines last year when he stunned three-time world 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop to second place in the 1,500m final at the Athletics Kenya National Championships at Nyayo National Stadium.

World 1,500m silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot won the race followed by the 19-year-old Soget as Kiprop settled for third place.

In the women’s division, both Chebet and World Under-20 Championships 3,000m steeplechase champion Cellphine Chespol have scaled to senior ranks.

Chebet, the 2015 World Under-18 Championships 2,000m steeplechase silver medallist will be racing for South Rift while Chespol, who won bronze in junior race at last year’s World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, is in the Kenya Prisons team.  

Chepsol finished second behind Africa Cross Country Championships gold medallist Alice Aprot, who is also the 2017 World Cross Country Championships silver medallist, during the Prisons Cross Country Championships last month.

Africa junior champion Miriam Cherop (South Rift) will take on World Under-18 Championships 2,000m steeplechase champion Caren Chebet (Nairobi) in the six-kilometre junior race.

Also in the fray are world under-18 silver medallist in the 800m Lydia Jeruto (Central Rift) and South Rift’s duo of world under-18s 1,500m bronze medallist Ednah Jebitok and Beatrice Chebet.

The “Universal Relay”, that was incorporated into cross country running for the first time in Kampala last year where Kenya won gold, should also provide some thrills.

World 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri will lead her Kenya Defence Forces team that has the likes of Charles Simotwo while Cheruiyot and 2016 Rio Olympics 800m bronze medallist Margaret Nyairera will spearhead Prisons’ assault.

World relay gold medallist Bernard Kipkorir, Cherop and under-20s 1,500m champion Kumari Taki form the South Rift team while the Kenya Police team has 2017 relay gold medallist Wilfred Mbithe.