Kapchorwa delight

World at their feet: Athletes (L-R) Mercyline Chelangat, Esther Chebet, Esther Chekwemoi and Zena Chebet wash their shoes in preparation for Sunday’s World Cross Country Championships. PHOTO BY JOYCE CHEMITAI

KAMPALA/ KAPCHORWA.

That USA arrived on Tuesday and Japan yesterday afternoon, four of the 59 nations are in Kampala for Sunday’s IAAF World Cross country Championships.

Part of the Lebanon and Sri Lanka teams were also expected yesterday as the global biennial event nears.
Further, the official tournament hashtag #IAAFKampala2017 is steadily trending on Twitter.

However, Team Uganda is yet to feel that buzz as the hosts are still in camp in Kapchorwa.

Coach Benjamin Longiross and his charges will leave camp for Kampala on Friday, camp at Hotel African and then have a feel of the Kololo Independence Grounds course a day later.

Unlike during the camp for the 2014 Africa Cross-country Championships where coach Peter Wemali allegedly harassed female runners sexually, business has been smooth this time round.

“We have been friends as a team and our coaches were really good to us,” team captain Timothy Toroitich told Daily Monitor.
“Kapchorwa is really nice and we had access to all avenues for training. If we needed a flat area, a slope or a hill, it was there,” Ronald Musagala, who will do the mixed relay, told this paper.

Athletes further highlighted the comfort Kapchorwa has over camps previously held in Bukwo. “There is access and quality of services like good medication unlike in Bukwo where we had challenges,” said Doreen Chemutai, competitor for the senior women’s 10km race.

There have not been any serious health challenges. “We had no serious cases of sickness except colds which was manageable,” Chemutai added.

Chemutai’s partner Racheal Chebet praised “the good feeding at camp and teammates’ discipline compared to other trainings”.

The team will be tasked to hunt for an individual medal for the first time since Moses Kipsiro won bronze in the senior men’s 12km race at 2010 edition held at the Myślęcinek Park in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Cross-country powerhouses Ethiopia, who arrive today and Kenya who set in tomorrow, are the hosts’ biggest rivals.