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Organisers of this month’s World Half Marathon Championships in Poland have moved the competition to October due to uncertainty surrounding the spread of the coronavirus.
In a statement on Friday, World Athletics said they had reached the decision in consultation with the mayor of the competition’s host city of Gdynia.
Kenya had last week picked three-time winner Geoffrey Kamworor to lead the country’s team to the March 29 competition.
Others in the team include fresh Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon champion Kandie Kibiwott, 2017 World Cross Country Championships silver medallist Leonard Barsoton, Shadrack Kimining and Victor Chumo.
Selected to the women’s team were Pauline Kaveke, who won bronze in 2018, Dorcas Kimeli, who was third in Barcelona last month, along with Monica Wanjuhi, Brillian Jepkorir and Dorcas Jepchirchir.
But they will now have to wait and hope to compete on October 17 following Friday’s announcement made via a press statement from World Athletics’ Monaco headquarters.
Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei described the development as “unfortunate” and encouraged the selected athletes to maintain their training regime.
“It’s unfortunate beyond anybody’s control,” Tuwei said on Friday.
“We encourage them to continue with their training as that is not the only event upcoming.
“We will talk to them and consider entering them in other competitions so that they don’t lose the training they have put in.
“The same applies to all other national athletes in training. We hope the situation will be contained soon,” Tuwei added.
“It is with regret that we have agreed with the Mayor of Gdynia and the organisers of the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020 (29 March) to postpone this event until October this year, due to the ongoing uncertainty created by the spread of new Coronavirus internationally,” the World Athletics statement said.
“The current international situation would have seriously compromised the event at this time as many countries are now restricting international travel, invoking quarantines and advising citizens and event organisers to avoid mass gatherings.
“First and foremost we had to consider the health and well-being of our athletes, officials and spectators in making this decision.
“The advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organisation, is that the spread of the Coronavirus is at a concerning level in many countries and all major gatherings should be reviewed,” the statement said.
World Athletics said they have worked with the World Half Marathon Championships’ Local Organising Committee and settled for October 17 October as the competition’s new date.
“Due to the exceptional efforts of our Polish organising committee, and the enthusiasm of the local community, this event was to include a mass race of more than 25,000 participants on 29 March, and we hope that the great majority of these recreational runners will still be able to participate alongside our elite competitors on the new date,” the statement added.
Several global sporting events have been shelved as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc.
In Kenya, the Kenya Open Golf Championship, initially scheduled for next week, has been put off indefinitely following a government directive that all international conferences and events be put on hold until the coast is clear.
The other upcoming global sporting events in Kenya include the World Athletics Continental Tour on May 2, the World Athletics Under-20 Championships from July 7 to 12 and the World Rally Championship Safari Rally from July 16 to 19.
On Thursday, Kenya’s team to the women’s qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics’ beach volleyball competition in Abuja, Nigeria, were prevented from travelling owing to the Ministry of Heath’s directive that also bars Kenya’s national sports teams from travelling to potential Covid-19 trouble spots.
