Let’s go gaga over an action-packed weekend

There is no doubt it will be a busy weekend for Kenya with two key sports events scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

As they say, good things come in double and it's that season for athletics enthusiasts with their eyes focused on the Nairobi Continental Tour Kip Keino Classic on Saturday and London Marathon 24 hours later.

Probably 70 per cent of the Kenyan elite runners will be in action this weekend as the country seeks to unlock sports after a seven-month lull.

On the Kip Keino Classic front, we have a few runners from around the world with the likes world 3,000m steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto, world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri and world 1, 500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot leading the Kenyan onslaught in the one day event.

In the London Marathon, world record holder Eliud Kipchoge will be the main attraction of the day on Sunday as he takes on Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele.

Other Kenyans to watch will include world marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei, London Marathon champion Vivian Cheruiyot and world marathon champion Ruth Chepng'etich.

So what more can we say other than wish our athletes the best of luck as they seek to bring back glory to this nation.

But besides that, we hope the two prestigious events will help unlock sports in this country as we seek to go back to normalcy.

But by virtue of being the meet director in the Nairobi Continental Tour, my priority will be the Kip Keino Classic which we have been granted to host for the next three years.

However, this should not be misconstrued to imply that I will skip London Marathon.

In fact, I want to use the London Marathon as therapy after three weeks of running around to ensure the Kip Keino Classic is a success.

Remember London is coming 24 hours after the tour.

I can only hope that life we get back to normal so that we can enjoy the sport we love: athletics.

I am sure the way we will handle this weekend's events will go a long way in giving us the direction in as far as sports resumption is concerned.

For the athletes who did get the opportunity in this weekend's events, it's time to train considering soon the floodgates for competition will be wide open. Remember there is the World Half Marathon coming up.

To cut the long short, there is no time to sit on the laurels and the earlier we start preparing the better.

Korir is the chairman of Athletics Kenya’s Nairobi branch and meet director of the Continental Tour’s Kip Keino Classic. [email protected]