Allow sporting activities to resume, Nyahururu athletes plead

Nyahururu athletes have called on the government to fast track the setting up of protocols on resumption of sporting activities to allow them practice in the local stadium in preparation for upcoming world events.

The athletes and coaches who spoke when they teamed up to clear bushes and weeds off the track at Nyahururu stadium said they are eager to use the tracks for speed training ahead of various world events.

Japanese based Stanley Waithaka Mburu, aged 20 years, who has been in Kenya since March when the country suspended International flights due to Covid-19, hoped to participate in the Diamond League in 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres races later this year.

He noted that the stadium had overgrown vegetation because it has been abandoned since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic that led to the suspension of sporting activities.

“We have been utilising the various roads, hilly places and slopes for circuits. We are used to doing speed work here and the slopes only offer short distances that will not serve to sharpen our skills,” said Waithaka.

He said most runners have not put on spikes for several months since they have been training on roads. Spike shoes are used on tracks or on cross country route.

Coach Francis Kamau noted that the need to spruce up the tracks was necessitated by the various world events that the Athletes hoped to participate in, noting that the Sports events will soon be rolled out in the country.

“Individual practice on roads reserves and estates by the athletes does not aid in building speed but only builds stamina,” Kamau said.

A member of the Kenyan women team to the World Half Marathon, Monica Ngige pleaded with the Laikipia County government to financially support the athletes who mainly relied on sports to earn a living, noting that they were suffering now that there were no events.

“I hoped to participate in the World Half Marathon in March, 2020 but the event was postponed to October.

Most athletes now cannot concentrate on their practice for lack of this stadium and there is need to reopen it,” she said, adding that the World Half Marathon championships will be held in Gdynia, Poland.

She pleaded with the government to hasten the setting up of  guidelines for the sports events to allow athletes access fields or stadia that are good for speed work.

Collins Kipruto said tracks help athletes to build teamwork and runners are able to gauge themselves speed wise against their colleagues during training sessions.

“Training alone is challenging; one cannot know how his or her speed is. We hope the stadium will be opened soon,” he said

He said there are several international races lined up for him but he has already skipped some since he is not yet ready.

Sports Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohammed, in July, appointed a committee to draw protocols for resumption of sporting activities in the country. The committee is yet to give its report.