• Winners in senior races to take home Sh3m
• Kamworor, Obiri, Manang'oi among top Kenyan representatives
Image: File
Prize kitty of Sh31m await the winners at this weekend's World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark.
Winners of the individual men's and women's races will each earn Sh3m, with money paid out to the top six finishers, who will bag Sh300,000.
In total, Sh4.3m is on offer in each of the two senior races. There is another prize pool of Sh4.3m in each of the senior men and women's team rankings with Sh2million going to the top team.
The prizes will also trickle to the sixth places in both races, where the last pay out by the IAAF is Sh400,000.
There is also another pool of Sh3m on offer in the mixed relay, with Sh1.2m earmarked for the winning team. Here, only the first four teams across the line will be awarded.
Both individual men’s winners from 2017 will clash in the senior men’s race in Aarhus as two-time champion Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya takes on Uganda’s world U20 cross-country champion Jacob Kiplimo.
Kenyan cross-country champion Amos Kirui and Ethiopian champion Mogos Tuemay are also expected to be strong challengers.
In the senior women’s race, world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri will line up against European 5,000m champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands and two-time world U20 cross-country champion Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia.
Double European champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will contest in the U20 men’s race, taking on the likes of Kenyan U20 champion Samuel Chebolei and world U18 steeplechase champion Leonard Bett.
Sarah Chelangat, the Youth Olympic champion at 3,000m and cross country, is among the favourites for the U20 women’s race along with world U20 5000m champion Beatrice Chebet of Kenya and African U20 cross-country champion Girmawit Gebrzihair of Ethiopia.
Kenya will defend their title in the mixed relay, helped by world and Olympic steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto and world 1500m champion Elijah Manangoi.
Morocco, Ethiopia and Uganda have also fielded strong teams.More than 300 athletes (171 men, 139 women) are entered for the individual senior races, while more than 200 (121 men, 111 women) will be in action in the U20 races.
Ten teams have been entered for the mixed relay.