Peter Ng'etich
5 May 2008
Nairobi — Boniface Kipchumba of Kapsabet won the 3,000 metres steeplechase race as the New KCC Athletics Tour came calling at Eldoret's Kip Keino Stadium.
Kipchumba clocked nine minutes, 21.2 seconds in the meeting sponsored by New Kenya Co-operative Creameries and organised by Athletics Kenya, and was closely followed by Silas Kosgei on 9:24.5 in the Saturday meeting.
Nixon Komen also came in a close third after he cloked 9:25.9. In the women's category, Jackline Cheruto, an soldier from Nanyuki, won the race by clocking 11:14.6. She was followed by Chelagat Sang who was timed at 11:26.9 while Nancy Yator came third in a time of 11:35.8. In the 10,000 metres, Abraham Cherono, a younger brother of Saif Saaeed Shaheen (formerly Stephen Cherono) of Qatar, won in a time of 28:16.70.
Cherono, a soldier, showed strong signs of winning the race from the beginning and did not disappoint to the end. David Tarus, who entered as an individual, came second in a time of 28:39.15 while David Septerit was placed third in 28:42.42. In the women's category, Gladys Jebet won in a time of 35:49.3 while Sally Chemutai came in second in 35:53.3. Gladys Otero was third in 36:00.01.
Eldoret is a cradle of athletes who have ruled the world of long distance running for a long time. Some of the athletes from the town are the legendary Kipchoge Keino and former Boston Marathon champion Moses Tanui, among others. Most athletes usually gauge themselves in such meets ahead of the international season. Athletes took advantage of the meeting to time themselves ahead of the lucrative Grand Prix championship to be held in Doha next Friday. Speaking at Kipchoge Keino Stadium, where the meet was held, North Rift AK chairman Ibrahim Hussein Kipkemboi, said athletes had turned up in their hundreds, showing that the sport was back on track in the region that had been hit by post-election violence early in the year.
Most athletes who had been training individually turned up to check on their timings. This was the first major event to be held in Eldoret since the violence. Hussein said: The quality of the sport had nose dived since there was not much training after the clashes, but it has started to pick up the new coalition government was sworn in."
Athletes feared training following accusations that some of them sponsored the violence. The clashes claimed the lives of former athlete Lucas Sang in Eldoret, who took part in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and marathon runner Wesley Ng'etich, who was killed in Nairobi.
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