Kenya: Top Runners Converge At Thika for Second AK/National Bank Meet

23 March 2012

The second Athletics Kenya track and field meeting will be staged in Thika today and tomorrow. According to AK public relations officer, the event will be used to select a team to the East Africa Youth championships set for Kampala, Uganda between May 4 and 5. Athletes who will be selected must be between 16 and 17 years old (born between 1995 and 1996). Angwenyi said to ascertain this, the athletes will be required to produce their birth certificates or passports as they seek to stem age cheating. Angwenyi said the top two in each event will be given a chance in the national team for the regional championships. AK will be seeking for representatives in several events including 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m, 1500m, 2000m steeplechase, 3000m, long jump, triple jump, high jump and javelin ( both boys and girls). The first weekend meeting was held in Bondo, Kisumu two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, reigning Vienna marathon champion John Kiprotich leads a star studded field for the event slated on April 15 in Austria. Kiprotich will not be the fastest in the field but the 23-year-old runner is determined to add another Vienna victory. Last year, he pulled a major surprise by beating the experienced Kenyan Patrick Ivuti and improving his personal best by more than seven minutes after clocking 2:08:29. This was less than a minute off the course record of 2:07:38, which was established by the current world champion Abel Kirui in 2008.

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