Nairobi — Former national athletics head coach Mike Kosgei - sought after by several athletics clubs after being fired by Athletics Kenya - has finally landed a job with a British athletics organisation.

Mozambique's athletics federation wanted to recruit Kosgei to prepare their team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, while Italian manager Gianni Dimadonna also wanted to sign him to train Kenyan athletes in his stable.

The former national coach, however, has opted to sign a three-year contract with Spear International Club of England that has established a training camp at Kapsabet, Kosgei's home town.

Already, 25 athletes have been recruited and about 100 others are training under Kosgei with an aim of joining the club.

The coach will train and also tap talent in Kenya and Uganda for the club. On attaining required standards, the athletes will be entered in international meets by the club.

Kosgei said he decided to reject the other job offers because he felt compelled to assist runners, especially in Nandi, where the enormous talent lacked training opportunities.

According to the contract, Kosgei will work closely with club chairman Bruce Tuloh and chief executive James Espier.

Kosgei and Espier said they wanted to start a training centre of excellence in Kapsabet, in which runners with talent and reputation from Nandi and the surrounding areas could get to compete at international level.

A training camp with a capacity to accommodate 400 runners will be set up in Kapsabet to serve runners from Kenya and Uganda, and also accommodate runners from England.

Espier said lack of facilities should not deny athletes a chance to prepare for international competitions.

He said Kenyan athletics performed poorly because of the rampant use of runners for commercial purposes.

He said there was need to stop the exploitation of runners.

The 47-year-old Espier is a former Britain 1,500 metres runner, while Tuloh was the European 5,000m champion in the 1960s. The training camp is located at Kamobo near Kapsabet town.

Kamobo is the home village of the 1988 Seoul Olympics 1,500m gold medallist Peter Rono.