Chris Musumba
15 May 2008
Nairobi — Athletics Kenya's decision to go the Ethiopian way by having elite athletes in a long-haul training camp ahead of the Olympic Games appears headed for a rough ride as some of the track stars want to go ahead with their individual training programmes.
World 800 metres champion Janeth Jepkosgey at a training session at Kasarani recently. Photos/MOHAMMED AMIN
With the rich European Golden League and Grand Prix season just starting, some of the elites feel their bank balances would be seriously dented if Athletics Kenya insists that they pitch camp in Eldoret before next month's Olympics trials.
Two of the country's top 800 metres runners - world champion Janeth Jepkosgei and former world indoor champion Wilfred Bungei - have already wriggled themselves out of the AK straitjacket and successfully sought the association's head coach Julius Kirwa's greenlight to travel abroad for training and competition.
Africa 5,000m silver medallist, Isaac Songok, has expressed his reservations about joining the rest of the squad at the pre-trials Chepkoilel Campus camp in Eldoret.
Instead, he wants to remain at his Iten camp where he has been training with Commonwealth Games 5,000m champion Augustine Choge.
Make final plans
Speaking on Wednesday upon his return from Doha where he had competed in the 3,000m race registering a slower time of 7:37.40 at the Doha Grand Prix in a race won by Choge (7:32.01), Songok said switching from his base to Chepkoilel would affect his programme.
He, however, said he would report to camp as required and argue his case before Kirwa.
"It would have been good for us to train on our own until after the trials.
"Then we can move into camp to make the final plans on how to compete in the Olympics.
"But if the coach has opted to call us early, I hope he has better knowledge of what he wants us to do," he said. Songok is among the 121 athletes that AK has summoned to camp in Eldoret.
He, however, agreed that poor strategy and insufficient training time were to blame for the country's poor show in recent competitions.
"But this programme needs to have been commissioned in November, early enough to allow us experiment it," he said. Songok plans to compete in Grand Prix meetings in Oslo and Ostrava before returning home for the Olympic trials in Nairobi.
The Ethiopian Athletics Federation has traditionally brought all its top athletes together in Addis Ababa where they train for most of the year, and are only allowed to travel abroad for carefully selected track meets with national duty the huge priority.
Wants to train in US
All Africa Games 1,500m champion, Asbel Kiprop, also wants to leave and train in the US, beginning next week. Kiprop said he had been invited to compete in one race in the US before going to Europe where he will run in Berlin and Ostrava.
Kiprop ran in the 800m at the Africa Championships in Addis Ababa and finished third. "I'm going back to my speciality (1,500m) and I want to train in America.
"I will then run two Grand Prix races in Europe before coming home for the trials. The new training programme AK is coming up with is okay, but we had already committed ourselves elsewhere," he added.
He intends to discuss the same with the head coach before moving abroad. Kirwa, however, pointed out that he is not against the athletes competing abroad, but wanted to harmonise their training programmes so that he can be sure that they are doing the right thing.
The coach said all athletes must seek permission from him before competing in any race once in camp.
He also said the association must be firm in its decision, which might appear bad for the athletes at the beginning, but which will help them reap maximum in the future as the country seeks to reclaim its lost glory in the long distance races.
"We have been focusing so much on Ethiopians, but there are Ugandans and Qatari athletes coming up too.
"Soon the field will be crowded and we must brace ourselves for this eventuality," he said.
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