Athletes compete in a past race. Kisumu will on Friday host AK's first phase of trials in preparation for the Commonwealth Games. [Photo/Star]
Kisumu is set to host Athletics Kenya’s track and field events on Friday, which will be in preparation for the Commonwealth Games trials.
The event, which will be held at the Moi Stadium, will be the season opener, which was pushed forward due to the April Commonwealth Games in Australia.
The games, which will be held in a single day, will mainly feature sprints only, 800m and field events.
According to the Athletics Kenya director of competitions Paul Mutwii, four of the eight track and field competitions will be held before the Commonwealth Games trials planned for March.
"We have ongoing cross country series and we are using long-distance runners in those meetings. The runners being involved are of 1,500 meters to 10,000 meters that’s why we are excluding them from the first meeting. So, the meetings have mainly sprinters to 800 meters and all field events,” he said as quoted by the Standard.
Joseph Ochieng, AK Nyanza North Region boss assured all stakeholders that all is set for the competition.
“We are inviting the sprinters and field events athletes all over the country to the event. We hope to have a competitive event on Friday. It’s unfortunate we will not have a two-day championship but this is a great opportunity for the sprinters to get used to competition ahead of the national trials for Commonwealth in February next year,” said Ochieng.
Kisii will host the second leg on December 1-2, before the competition is taken to Machakos on December 15-16.
The last leg of the first phase will be held in Eldoret on December 29-30.