AK warn they will not bend the relay series rules for anyone

Athletes who do not show up for this weekend's 2nd leg of Athletics Kenya Relay Series will be barred from the third leg and subsequent trials set for February 6 and March 26-27 respectively at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi.

AK's vice-president and director of competitions, Paul Mutwii, said participation in both events will be through invitation by the federation.

"Information, including the start list for the first and second legs, were sent to World Athletics and the organisers of the World Relay Championship in Poland. Therefore, it is not a rule that we have made up but applies even to the highest level," Mutwii said. 

Mutwii said the first and second legs have enabled the federation assess athletes' level of preparedness ahead of the May 1-2 showpiece in Selesia, Poland thus it was irresponsible for any athlete to skip certain events and show up for others as he or she wishes. 

"Why would someone want to show up at the last minute whereas others have undergone the process since Day One? We will not allow someone to just show up and expect to compete whereas the federation has not assessed their levels of preparedness. This is the same case for the cross country series," he said. 

He revealed he has received an invitation to a cross country event in Ethiopia with a huge financial windfall for the winners. 

"The invitation letter I received was seeking athletes from the country who would be willing to participate in the event. So I went through my records to look for athletes who have been competing well in the recent cross country events to recommend for the event. This is why athletes should treat all AK calendar events seriously," Mutwii said. 

Regarding this Saturday's event, Mutwii announced that the different races will be the exact distances as in relay races.

"This time, we will even use electronic equipment to record the exact time posted by each athlete. This will enable us see whether the various athletes, whether first, second or third, have run within the prescribed qualifying time," he explained. 

Unlike the January 9 meet, where athletes competed in 500m, 1600m, 1000m and 150m categories, this weekend's race categories include: 100m, 200m, 100m hurdles, 800m and 400m. 

"We expect coaches to have worked hard with their athletes to rectify the various issues that we witnessed in the first leg."