Three years later, Kipchoge Keino Stadium remains a pipe dream
One of the wings constructed by Golbo Construction Company Limited at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County which is still under construction on April 13, 2022.
What you need to know:
- The Athletics Kenya Central Rift region track and field events were held on the murram surface at the Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex, which should not be the case.
- At present, North Rift region has no proper public stadium, yet Kenyan athletes, who are country’s best ambassadors abroad because of their prowess, lack a decent place to train.
Three years since the Nandi County Government began renovating the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Kapsabet, the project has stalled and hope is fast fading.
The national government had promised to inject Sh200 million for the completion of the stadium, but to date, it remains just that — a promise.
Nandi County Sports Chief Officer Kennedy Tanui told Nation Sport that the national government is yet to disburse the money which they have been waiting for since 2019.
“We took over the stadium project from the previous county administration. The national government promised Sh200 million to finish the facility. We had planned to lay a tartan track and open the stadium for use, but we have been stuck for three years now,” said Tanui, who is also the secretary-general for Athletics Kenya Central Rift region.
Nandi County lives up to its billing as the “Source of Champions”. Despite the sorry state of the stadium, many miles away in the United States of America , a son and daughter of the soil did Kenya proud at Boston Marathon on Monday.
Peres Jepchichir, who won the women’s title after clocking two hours, 21 minutes and five seconds (2:21:05) and Evans Chebet who won glory in the men’s race in 2:06:51, both train in Kapsabet.
Since Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Kapsabet was closed for renovation, athletes now use footpaths in tea plantations for speed training and others are forced to travel about 15 kilometres from Kapsabet to the University of East Africa, Baraton.
The stadium is in such a state of disrepair that grass has overgrown. The VIP pavilion is complete, but work on the terraces is unfinished because the county government was unable to allocate money for the next phase of project.
Tanui has asked the national government, through the Ministry of Sports, to honour the pledge it made so that the stadium is finished to end the suffering of athletes.
“Our performance in this region is going down because of poor facilities. The county government can no longer fund renovation of the stadium because of lack of cash. Other county programmes will suffer if we do the renovations," said Tanui.
There is a bit of respite, though, because athletes can use the Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex which was built by the Nandi County Government. However, athletes can only use the facility for training when it is not raining.
The Athletics Kenya Central Rift region track and field events were held on the murram surface at the Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex, which should not be the case.
At present, North Rift region has no proper public stadium, yet Kenyan athletes, who are country’s best ambassadors abroad because of their prowess, lack a decent place to train.
