Why stakeholders stand to benefit from 2024/25 athletics calendar
Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala (left) and 2015 world javelin champion Julius Yego at the Athletics Kenya calendar of events launch dubbed “Road to Tokyo” at the Weston Hotel on September 2, 2024.
What you need to know:
- A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; whereas Tokyo may be many months away, it is important to get in the mood as early as yesterday and fix our gaze towards it.
- All aboard on the bus as we embark on a journey to the top of the medal table at Tokyo 2025.
For the first time in over 70 years of our existence, Athletics Kenya (AK) on Wednesday launched the 2024/25 calendar of activities with a lot of fanfare at the Weston Hotel in Nairobi.
In past years, this calendar has been mostly distributed via press releases to media houses as well as to various branches and affiliates.
Christened “Road to Tokyo”, the calendar comprises various local and international events, including cross country, road races, track and field, and mountain running.
One may wonder why all the pomp and colour to accompany a simple exercise such as the unveiling of a calendar of activities.
Well, the proof is in the pudding; as the name suggests, “Road to Tokyo” is an indicator of the bigger picture behind the formulation of this calendar.
The World Championships, to be held in Tokyo in August next year, will be the biggest athletics event in the world in the next eight months – if not the biggest sporting event.
Each of the events on AK’s calendar, including the local ones, have been crafted with Tokyo 2025 in mind.
These competitions will provide athletes with the chance to build-up towards Tokyo by assessing their strengths and weaknesses, in addition to meeting anti-doping testing deadlines.
Furthermore, athletes will be able to better plan for their season as they angle towards qualifying for the World Championships.
They can now choose which events to train for and compete in while giving a wide berth to others, in line with their long-term targets.
From a federation point of view, the Road to Tokyo calendar provides a beacon in our search for corporate partners to work with in organising some of the activities.
The Cross Country series as well as Track and Field Weekend meetings are local events with huge potential for corporates to come in and increase their visibility and earn more revenue by obtaining new customers.
Corporates that have always wanted to work with AK but have never known where to start can now access this calendar and identify possible partnership opportunities in good time.
Our brothers and sisters in the media are also able to plan adequately to cover each and every one of these events and even stoke public interest in them through prior dissemination of the same.
With these aforementioned benefits to all athletics stakeholders, it was necessary to amplify the Road to Tokyo message.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; whereas Tokyo may be many months away, it is important to get in the mood as early as yesterday and fix our gaze towards it.
All aboard on the bus as we embark on a journey to the top of the medal table at Tokyo 2025.
