Busy UAF waits on better Namboole tartan

Several athletes and officials at Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) began the year with disappointment after the first National Trials weren’t held last weekend.

It comes after delays in laying of the tartan track at Namboole Stadium. Works at the facility are winding up with the venue set to be officially opened.

But both the constructors - the national army’s engineering brigade, the education and sports ministry had hoped to have the tartan ready. 

UAF was expected to stage track and field action so to prepare athletes ahead of a pretty busy year. “Last weekend, we failed to get a proper venue,” said general secretary Beatrice Ayikoru. 

Uganda is expected to field athletes and pursue medals at the big continental and international fronts like the Paris Olympics in the French capital in August.

Before that, runners will compete at the African Games in Accra, Ghana as well as the World Cross-country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in March. 

But UAF is patient about Namboole. “We expect a better surface and running track in Namboole,” Ayikoru noted. 

With an improved track expected, UAF hopes that this will attract stronger fields thereby pushing more athletes to qualify on home soil. 

“We could have some athletes from neighboring countries like Rwanda, Djibouti and Burundi to come and improve the competition. 

Last year, sprinters and middle-distance runners were challenged by the closure of Namboole to allow construction and UAF had to improvise. 

“We helped some few athletes by sending them to Europe in Spain and Italy, as well as Kenya.”

As UAF waits for Namboole, Ayikoru said they are considering options in university tracks at either Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono, Makerere or Ndejje.

“We expect that on February 3, we will hold the first Trials, a week before the National Cross-country Championships,” she added. 

Several local track events will also be used to identify and help teenage competitors qualify for the World Athletics U20 Championships which will be held in Lima, Peru in late August. 

The jam-packed program is already forcing UAF’s hand. “While we wait for the quota allocations from the National Council of Sports, the team going to African Games will not have Belgrade-bound runners,” Ayikoru explained. 

Uganda has won the last two senior men’s 10km titles at the World Athletics Cross-country Championships; Joshua Cheptegei at the 2019 edition in Aarhus, Denmark and Jacob Kiplimo at last year’s edition in Bathurst, Australia. 

ATHLETICS IN 2024 - MAJOR EVENTS

Feb 25: Africa Cross-country Championships (Tunisia)

Mar 1-3: World Athletics Indoor Championships (Glasgow, UK)

Mar 8-23: African Games (Accra, Ghana)

Mar 30: World Athletics Cross-country Championships (Belgrade, Serbia)

June 18-23: Africa Senior Athletics Championships (Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Aug 2-11: Olympic Games (Paris, France)

Aug 27-31: World Athletics U20 Championships (Lima, Peru)