Two-time Africa Masters Championships gold medalist Regina Mulatya is eyeing this year's World Indoor Games set for March 6 to April 1 in Poland.
The Kenya Prisons Service wardress, based at the Lang’ata Women’s Prisons, won two medals during the opening leg of Athletics Kenya track and field over the weekend at the Mumias Sports Complex in Kakamega county.
She said she will use the local weekend meeting as a build-up as she shapes up for the World Masters Indoor Championships.
The 45-year-old won the triple jump and finished second in the long jump in the two-day event over the weekend.
“The win today has inspired me to work even harder as I prepare for the World Indoor Masters Games that will be held in Poland. Despite facing many challenges here, I managed to win two medals, which was good for me,” said Mulatya.
She said the challenge during the weekend meeting was the lack of standards as far as facilities are concerned.
She said the equipment they were using was below the required standards and the event lacked serious competition.
“With such imbalances, you are forced to work extra hard and I managed to do my best as I want also to compete in Kisumu in two weeks' time,” she said.
She added: “Only two of us were serious competitors but the rest were beginners. I and Maureen Wafula also from Prison know each other very well and we have been competing together for a long time,” she revealed.
Mulatya won gold in the triple and long jump during the 2019 Africa Masters Championships in Tunisia and hopes to better her performance on the world stage.
She said she would love to make her debut at the World Indoor Masters Games. "Since I was employed at the Kenya Prison in 2006, I have been trying to meet the qualification standards without success,” she explained.
She revealed that to compete in Africa show, one must meet the 6.15m. Mulatya has a personal best 0f 5.97m.
“I was never lucky to qualify for any senior event outside the country and that is why I shifted to masters. Qualification age in masters is 35 and above which I have and the distance is friendly to me,” she says.
She said she will compete in the 60m race, long jump and triple jump as she intensifies her training at the Nairobi West Prison.
“I still have the energy to compete with even the junior athletes despite my age. I have a good body and I train very much to compete in various championships. I was blessed to jump and that has helped me to work hard,” she said.
