Athletics Kenya are impressed with the performance
of their runners in the 2025 Golden Trail World Series (GTWS) and Mountain Running World
Cup.
AK Mountain Running Committee chairman Peter Angwenyi said Kenyans have begun their
season on a high note ahead of this year’s World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
(WMTRC).
The third edition of the event will take place in Canfranc-Pirineos, Spain, between September 25 and 28. Angwenyi said AK have already entered a provisional team for the showpiece.
Angwenyi said AK is closely monitoring the performance of Kenyans before naming the final team for the World Championships.
Some of the athletes in the provisional team are Alfred Cheruiyot, Ken Koross (men) and Janet Chepng’etich and Mercy Chemutai (women), who dominated this year’s Barng’etuny Nandi Mountain Running race. On Saturday, Paul Machoka began his season with a win at the Zmeu X-Fest in Romania.
Machoka
won the 19km in 1:48:52 ahead of compatriot Kevin Kibet, who finished two
seconds behind. In the women’s category, Valentine Rutto finished
behind the winner, Sarah Adkins of Great Britain.
The World Cup action now shifts to Italy, where the mountain running elite will reconvene in Casto, Brescia, for a weekend double-header: the Vertical Nasego and the legendary Trofeo Nasego on May 24-25.
Kenyan athletes dominated the first two editions of the 2025 Golden Trail World Series (GTWS) held in Kobe, Japan, and Jinshanling, China.
During the Jinshnling event held on April 26, compatriots Patrick Kipng’eno (2:13:05) and Philemon Kiriago (2:13.48) finished first and second, respectively.
In the women’s category, Caroline Kimutai emerged winner and was followed by Joyline Chepng’eno. Kimutai emerged winner in 2:13:14, and Chepng’eno clocked 2:41:26.
Kipng’eno and Kiriago also dominated the first event of the series in Kobe, Japan, finishing first and second, respectively.
The 2025 Golden Trail World Series heads to the Italian coast for its third leg on May 17.
The race features an explosive 26 km course with 1,400 metres of elevation gain across rugged trails, panoramic ridgelines and cliffs plunging into the Tyrrhenian Sea.
