Geoffrey Rono and Agnes Jebet are winners of Athletics Kenya Baringo Cross Country Championships held on Tuesday December 28th in Metipso Primary School, Baringo County.
So far, the Athletics Cross Country Championships Series has been held in Machakos, Olkalau, Iten, Kapsokwony in Mt Elgon, Bungoma and in Sotik, Bomet County on December 4th.
This paved the way for county cross country championships, which will be followed by regional competitions.
Teams selected from the counties will compete in regional championships where yet another team shall be selected to compete in the national trials to be held in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
Rono easily won the men’s 10km race after running from the front for the better part of the race to cross the finish line in 29 minutes,43 seconds.
He won ahead of Julius Kipkwony who timed 29.56, while Musa Mitei sealed the podium places in 29.58. Rono said Tuesday’s race was a good way of preparing for the regional competition where he will be battling it out with other athletes from the region for a chance to compete in the national trials.
“I have had a good race here, but the real battle lies ahead. I am looking forward to running well at the regional championships, and to join the team that will be competing at the national event,” said Rono.
Jebet crossed the line in 34.45 to win ahead of Judy Jepkemoi who clocked 34.53 while Josphine Wanjiku was third in 35.20.
In the 8km junior men’s race, Ismael Kurui won after timing 23.59 ahead of Shadrack Kiptoo who clocked 24.40. Gilbert Kiprotich came third after clocking 24.49. The women’s 6km junior race saw Marion Jepng’etich bag victory after crossing the line in 20:06 ahead of Brenda Jepchumba (20.34) and Hilda Chebet (20.46).
World Athletics introduced cross country tour races which will be subsequently categorized as gold, silver or bronze and will come with additional prize monies for the best performers.
Out of the $400,000 (about Ksh 43million by current exchange rates) prize money for the best performers, $75,000 (about Ksh 8million) will be set aside for the best male and female runners in the cross country tour. Eldoret town was picked by World Athletics as one of its venues for the inaugural 2022 World Cross Country Tour that has 17 legs, and the race was later named after the late Agnes Tirop in her honour.
National Police Cross Country Championships shall be held on January 7th, 2022 at Jockey Club of Kenya, the same day Kenya Defence Forces Cross Country Championships will be held at the Moi Airbase in Nairobi.