Cross country key to excelling in track races

With the 2017/2018 athletics season officially over, focus no doubt turns to the next season and with it, come new expectations.

Athletics Kenya (AK) has already released the new calendar of events and the two events on Kenya’s radar specifically are the World Cross Country Championships in Sweden in March and the World Athletics Championships in August; they will be the main highlights of the new season.

However, for any athlete to take part in the two main events, he or she will have to prove they are ready to battle the crème de la crème from the rest of the world.

So how do they achieve that? To be honest, this is quite a journey and it starts with the new cross country season that was heralded by the hosting this past weekend of the Ndalat Gaa cross country, the traditional season-opener.

Of course as mentioned elsewhere, there will be changes here and there as we seek to engage a higher gear. As you know, sports has gone scientific and one can’t sit back and expect results or rather as they say: “One cannot do things the same way and expect different results.”

That is why we have to do things differently in order to compete at higher levels with the rest of the world. Athletes need to wake up to reality that hard work pays if they are to emerge among the best. That is why we need to review our position in as far as the local races are concerned.

We know that cross country is good build up for track and field and that athletes need to embrace the same. In the recent past the so called ‘Elite Athletes’ have ignored these races deeming them ‘small’.

Having been an athlete myself, I know there is no ‘small race’ and every event counts and adds value to the next assignment.

We know both the cross country and national track trials will be held in Eldoret and this being the ‘Home of Champions’ every athlete irrespective of the stature will have to be ready.

That is why it will be important for top runners to grace local events and push the competition to another level. It is one thing to have a name and a totally different ball game to protect it.

Therefore, the only way our top runners can protect their legacy is by testing the grounds early ahead of main events.

Gone are the days when we used to ignore events because competition has gone a notch higher.

As AK, the only way we can help our athletes is by ensuring they are busy throughout the season and our calendar speaks volumes.