Gusii Stadium to host penultimate round of AK weekend meeting

The fifth and penultimate round of the Athletics Kenya track and field weekend meeting heads to Kisii on Friday and Saturday.

The weekend meeting returns to Gusii Stadium for the first time in eight years.

AK Nyanza South chairman Peter Angwenyi said several top athletes have registered to participate in the two-day event.

Angwenyi said athletes hoping to participate in the event are required to register by Tuesday.

“Registration for the event is mandatory. I want to appeal to fans to turn up in large numbers to see top Kenyan athletes race at Gusii Stadium. These are the athletes they only see on TV,” added Angwenyi after inspecting the stadium on Monday.

He added: “We expect about 1, 000 athletes. So far, 500 have registered online. This being the second last event in the series, we expect an action-packed meeting,” said Angwenyi.

It will be the first national event to be held at Gusii Stadium since the installation of a synthetic track.

Commonwealth 800m gold medalist, Mary Moraa will lead top athletes in the two-day event. Moraa, confirmed on her social media pages, that she will participate in the event at the stadium, where she honed her skills.  

Angwenyi revealed high jump and pole vault will not be held due to a lack of landing gear. The weekend meetings started in Kisumu before heading to Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.

The third edition was held in Thika Stadium and the fourth was at Mbaraki Sports Club in Mombasa.

The sixth and final meeting will be held at Nyayo National Stadium on April 28 and 29. The events are being used as the build-up to the World Athletics Championships to be held in Budapest, Hungary in August.

The weekend meetings will pave way for Budapest World Athletics Championships trials on July 14 and 15 at Moi International Sports Centre (MISC) Kasarani. The World Athletics Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary from  August 19 to 27.