Irene Cheptai wins the senior women's 8km race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kololo grounds in Kampala, Uganda, on March 26, 2017.
| Jared Nyataya | Nation Media GroupAthletics
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Cheptai seeks redemption at National Cross Country trials
What you need to know:
- Cheptai would take a maternity break before making a comeback in 2019 to combine road racing and track without major success with a hip injury complicating things for her
- Cheptai, who is training in Iten under coach Barnaba Chirchir, will face three other athletes, who have once won the senior women’s title before
- Hellen Obiri (Kenya Defence Forces), who won the 2019 title on her way to capturing the world cross country title the same year, has opted to compete in mixed relay events
Twenty-nine-year old Irene Cheptai took both the local and international scene by storm in 2017.
She clinched her maiden National Cross Country title before going on to win the World Cross Country Championships crown in Kampala after finishing 13th in 2013 Bydgoszcz and 20015 Guiyang.
Cheptai then took a maternity break before coming back in 2019 combining road and track racing. But a hip injury prevented her from hitting her previous heights.
The mother of one finished fourth at New Delhi Half Marathon in October 2019 and fourth at the same race in November last year.
However, Cheptai, who finished second in the North Rift Region Cross Country Championships last weekend behind Vicotty Chepng’eno, is determined to regain the good form she had in 2017.
She is among top athletes, who will be battling for top honours at the Lotto National Cross Country Championships at the Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi on Saturday.
The championships once again received a major boost yesterday when gaming firm Lotto Foundation unveiled Sh7 million sponsorship for this year’s event.
This is the sixth year Lotto are getting involved in the competition that will be used to select the national team for the Africa Cross Country Championships due on March 6 in Lome, Togo.
The continental event was moved from last year due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Cheptai, who is training in Iten under coach Barnaba Chirchir, will face three other athletes, who have won the national senior women’s title once before.
They are defending champion Sheila Chelangat (Police), the 2016 titleholder Alice Aprot (Prisons) and 2018 winner Stacy Ndiwa (Police).
“My intentions are not to win per say but continue testing my body as I recover from the nagging hip injury,” said Cheptai whose main focus is to make a maiden appearance at the Olympic Games by earning a ticket in Kenya’s 10,000m team.
Mixed relays
Hellen Obiri (Kenya Defence Forces), who won the 2019 title on her way to capturing the world cross country title the same year, has opted to compete in mixed relay events.
Others in the senior women’s field are Kenya Prisons champion Rosemary Wanjiru and the 2019 World Cross Country Under-20 champion Beatrice Chebet.
Lotto Foundation chief executive officer, Joan Mwaura, presented the sponsorship cheque to Athletics Kenya chief administrative officer, Susan Kamau, who was accompanied by AK deputy treasurer Dimmi Kisalu and executive committee members, Barnaba Korir and Benjamin Njoga at Riadha House.
Korir invited fans to turn up in numbers to cheer their favourites runners on Saturday.
