Some of the finest local athletes will converge on Eldoret Sports Club today to fight for places in the Kenyan team that will compete in the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships on January 10 next year in Tallahassee, Florida in USA.
Today, Athletics Kenya will host the National Cross Country Championships on a course that has hosted world-conquering athletes for the annual Discovery Cross Country Championships for the past 34 years.
At the end of the day, Team Kenya selectors will name a strong team that will compete in the 46th edition of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in January.
Some 450 runners from 12 Athletics Kenya regions (Nairobi, Coast, Nyanza South, Nyanza North, Western, North Eastern, Eastern, North Rift, South Rift, Central Rift, Central and Southern ), affiliate teams (universities, National Police Service, Kenya Prisons Service and Kenya Defence Forces), and guest affiliate teams (National Youth Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and the Kenya Forest Service) will compete in Eldoret today.
The athletes will do battle in five categories - senior men’s 10km, senior women’s 10km, junior men’s (under-20) 8km race, and junior women’s (under-20) 6km category. The final category will see young athletes compete in 2km loop races for both boys and girls. The men’s 10km senior category has attracted some of the finest athletes from various regions and the discipline forces.
The 2023 world 10,000 metres silver medallist, Daniel Simiu, returns from self-exile to compete for a place in Team Kenya. A year ago, Simiu, 30, vowed that he would never represent Kenya after missing out on a place in the squad for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Simiu, who has won the national title twice, is fresh from competing in the Chicago Marathon, where he finished 13th after clocking 2 hours, 07 minutes and 52 seconds, comes up against fast-rising Ishmael Kipkurui.
At the 2024 World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Kipkurui picked up an injury at the last minute before the competition. He also skipped the 2024 Olympic Games.
Kipkurui, who finished fourth in the men’s 10,000m race at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, is eager to represent Kenya again.
“We had a short period to prepare for the National Cross Country Championships, having just returned from the World Athletics Championships, but I will do my best over the distance. I look forward to representing my country again.
“The championship has attracted a rich field, and everyone is eyeing the six slots on offer, so it will be a competitive affair,” Kipkurui observed.
Athletics Kenya’s Senior Vice President in charge of competitions, Paul Mutwii, said that preparations for the national event are complete, and his team expects to deliver a world-class championship.
“The teams are ready, and preparations are complete. We expect nothing short of a world-class event. We shall use the event to select a team to represent Kenya at the global stage in the US next year. Athletes selected to the national team will enter residential training camp in the next few days,” said Mutwii.
The first event on the programme, which is junior women’s (Under-20) 6km race, will start at 9.30 am, followed by junior men’s 8km (Under-20) category at 10 am. Next will be the senior women’s 10km race from 10.30 am. The 10km senior men’s race will be staged from 11.15 am, followed by the women’s 2km loop race from noon. The last event on the programme is the men’s 2km loop race, which will start at 12.15 pm.
Thereafter, there will be an awards ceremony, followed by the naming of the national team.
