All the best, Team Kenya

Team Kenya athletes will again seek to dominate the 24th edition of the World Half Marathon Championships this afternoon in Gdynia, Poland.

The country will be trying to retain the men’s title, which Geoffrey Kamworor won in the 2018 edition in Valencia, as well as to recapture the women’s title Kenya lost to Ethiopia the same year.

Although Covid-19 has disrupted sporting activities and hampered preparations, Kenyan athletes must do their best as they seek to recapture the team titles the country lost to Ethiopia in the biennial championships.

A total of 54 countries will be represented in the competition, which had been scheduled for March this year but was postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The appointment of former athletes Patrick Makau and Catherine Ndereba by Athletics Kenya as team coaches is encouraging and should be emulated by other federations.

Pre-race preparations

Both are former distance runners and athletes in the team stand to learn a lot from them in terms of pre-race preparations, strategy, delivery and discipline. This is particularly significant considering most in the Kenyan team will be representing the country for the first time in championship races.

Both Makau and Ndereba are former world record holders in the marathon, having clocked 2 hours, 03 minutes and 38 seconds, and 2:18:47 respectively in their races to bring Kenya honour and glory.

Both have also won medals for Kenya at the World Half Marathon Championships and the World Athletics Championships.

Makau claimed silver medal at the 2007 and 2008 editions of the World Half Marathon Championships held in Udine and Rio de Janeiro respectively, while Ndereba won women’s marathon in the 2003 and 2007 editions of the World Athletics Championships held in Paris and Osaka respectively.

However, results in the competitions will depend on the collective input from the team. We wish Kenyan athletes all the best in their races.