National athletics coach David Letting has sensationally claimed that the team was not adequately prepared for the hilly and steep course at the World Cross County Championships in Aarhus, Denmark over the weekend.
Kenya finished second to Ethiopia with Hellen Obiri and Beatrice Chebet, the only title winners in the senior and under 20 women's races respectively. Geoffrey Kamworor, who was chasing a hat-trick of titles, had to settle for bronze in the senior men's race. Kenya bagged three team silver and two team bronze medals.
Speaking after the team arrived back in the country yesterday, Letting termed the course in Aarhus as the toughest he has ever seen in his long career in coaching. Letting said the hilly course at landmark Moesgaard Museum grounds in Aarhus came as a surprise to the team, which had only concentrated on the usual training tactics.
“We had trained well in Kigari for three weeks but did not to do intensive hill work in our preparations and that affected our performance," said Letting.
Some athletes also revealed that they only jogged on the hill in Kigari, with minimum intensity. Letting said in future, Kenya must send scouts to assess cross country courses and coordinate with the technical team as part of their preparations.
"Ethiopia and Uganda had sent their coaches and personnel to Denmark in October and they were well prepared to tackle the course. We were only relying on maps which did not serve us well,” added Letting.
Letting said the hilly course clearly affected especially the junior men and junior women's team categories with only Chebet surviving the torturous course. Kenya failed to win a medal in the men's category for the first time since 1984.
"Our young athletes really struggled with the course but they fought hard and never gave up as they competed against well-prepared sides,” added Letting.
Team manager Benjamin Njoga said AK must go back to the drawing board if they are to counter the continued rise of especially our neighbours Uganda, who had Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo winning gold and silver in the senior men's 10km race.
."We have learnt our lessons and we must rectify as we look forward to the World Championships in Doha in August,” said Njoga.
Despite the dismal display, the team received a thunderous welcome at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with traditional dancers singing their hearts out.
Operations at the terminal 1E came to a standstill as the team was being ushered back and later treated to late lunch at the Weston Hotel.
