Kwemoi to up training despite Africa x-country meet setback

National men's cross country champion Rodgers Kwemoi is not about to slow down in his training even after the Africa Cross Country Championships in Lome, Togo, were postponed for the second time in a year. 

The continental showpiece was the second major event for Kwemoi to miss out on after the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon was cancelled in early February over Covid-19 fears. 

However, Kwemoi is not worried about the turn of events but has vowed to soldier on with his training as he sets his sights on the Tokyo Olympics.

"After the postponement of the Africa Cross Country meet, I do not have any races am planning to participate in. However, you never know; a  race may come up out of the blues and so it is important to keep training hard in anticipation. The key is to stay in shape and maintain a positive attitude despite the prevailing circumstances," the 10,000m Commonwealth bronze medalist said. 

Kwemoi also said he is determined to end Kenya's 33-year gold medal drought in the 10,000m and is focusing his training on the same. 

"I do not feel any pressure because I know that with hard work we can finally end this long search for a gold in 10,000m. It is long overdue and I am confident that this Olympics will be a memorable one for us," he said. 

He revealed a change in his running strategy, which has been the key to his recent successes in cross country and the track. 

"Usually, I would start at a fast pace but I realised I would be out of energy at the tail-end of my races. So my coach advised me to be conserving my energy for the latter stages of the race before unleashing a burst of energy to the finish line," he said. 

Kwemoi was speaking on Sunday afternoon at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi where he finished second in heat 2 of the men's 5,000m race during the second day of the Athletics Kenya Track and Field Weekend meet. 

Baringo-based Gideon Rono finished first in 13:21.2 whereas Kwemoi clocked 13:21.8 in second, ahead of Daniel Simiu who finished third in 13:29.6. 

Kwemoi congratulated Rono for the win and earmarked him as one destined for big things in athletics. 

"He is a great runner and I enjoyed competing against him. I would like to encourage him to keep pushing on to achieve his goals in life and athletics," the former under-20 10,000m champion said. 

On the other hand, Rono was elated after upsetting the odds to claim first place in a tightly contested race in which he had to hold off a strong fightback from Kwemoi in the last 150m. 

"I knew I was competing among the bigwigs and that I had a huge task ahead of me. However, I was not overawed by the occasion because I have been working hard in training and am glad that it all paid off," the form four student said.