Confusion and disappointed marked the cancellation and further switch of the first Athletics Kenya track and field weekend meeting earlier slated for February 26 and 27.
The event was initially set for Bondo University, then Maseno University before late reports indicated that the meeting will now be held in Nairobi.
A communique from AK read: “Due to unavoidable circumstances, the first Athletics Kenya Track and Field Weekend Meet that was to be held at Bondo University, Nyanza North will now take place in Nairobi.”
“The one-day meet will be held at The Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi on February 27. We apologize for any inconveniences caused by this change.”
Rongai Athletics coach Bernard Ouma said many of his athletes were raring to go and some were already on their way to the lakeside town.
“Five of my athletes were already en-route to Kisumu whereas three more were to fly out tomorrow (Thursday). It is a loss because I now have to cancel their air tickets, which will attract a penalty of at least Sh5,000,” Ouma said.
Ouma said early preparations would have foreseen and forestalled the prevailing situation by saving the athletes the agony of training in vain.
“They knew about this event way before and so they could have made preparations for a murram track. This is a lost opportunity for the county government and for the athletes, many of who were hungry to compete after a long time out of training,” he said.
His Ndura Athletics Camp counterpart, Phillip Ndura, was equally disappointed, saying he had already finalised plans to send his athletes to do duty in Maseno.
“We had planned on sending at least 18 athletes to the competition. There were also junior athletes already in camp and ready to join the elites,” Ndura said.
Some of the athletes from the Kitale-based training camp who were expected in Maseno include 400m specialist Zablon Ekwam, Noah Kibet, Agnes Mbatha, Kevin Kipkorir and Brian Kiptum.
Other teams/regions who were expected to send strong delegations include Kenya Defence Forces and the National Police Service. NPC coach Isaac Kirwa also confirmed that he had planned to send a strong team to Maseno before news of the cancellation filtered through.
“We had not yet dispatched our athletes to the venue but we had assembled a strong team of over 50,” Kirwa said.
AK Nyanza North chairman Joseph Ochieng said Maseno University were apprehensive about hosting the competition without permission from the Ministry of Education.
