Edward Zakayo (© AFP / Getty Images)
Kenya’s 2018 world U20 5000m gold medallist Edward Zakayo will face Ugandan duo Joel Ayeko and Rogers Kibet at the Cardiff Cross Challenge, a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event, on Saturday (15).
The showpiece in the Welsh capital kicks off the Cross Country Tour Gold season and uses a twisting and technical course around Llandaff Fields, near the city centre.
Ayeko and Kibet both have great cross country pedigree. The former finished 10th at the last edition of the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus in 2019 and the latter achieved top three finishes in Elgoibar, Hannut and Albufeira earlier this year, helping him to place fourth in the 2021/22 Cross Country Tour standings, in which Ayeko finished sixth.
Zakayo, meanwhile, returns to cross country action after a track season that saw the 2018 Commonwealth Games 5000m bronze medallist finish fourth in the 10,000m at the Games in Birmingham.
Ethiopia’s Gizealew Abeje Ayana will return to Cardiff two weeks after finishing second in the Cardiff Half Marathon in 1:00:16 and Chakib Lachgar of Spain will start his cross country season over the 9,600m course in Cardiff with eyes on the European Cross Country Championships in December.
The men’s race will also feature a fierce domestic battle, with Emile Cairess among those in action. Cairess is the joint British record-holder for 10km and was runner up at the English National Cross Country Championships in February, finishing behind Mahamed Mahamed, and the pair will clash again on Saturday.
Mahamed’s brother Zakariya will also be competing and notably won the Northern Ireland International Cross Country in January. Dewi Griffiths and Alex George add further domestic strength to the field.
The international women’s field to tackle 6,400m has been hit by some late withdrawals, but Kenya’s Pamela Kosgei is among the athletes set to line up at Llandaff Fields. Kosgei, sister of world marathon record-holder Brigid, won the Kenyan U18 cross country title earlier this year and more recently she finished fifth in the 3000m steeplechase at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22. The Cardiff Cross Challenge will be her first World Athletics Cross Country Tour event and also her first race on European soil.
There will be some strong domestic competition, with Jenny Nesbitt, Kate Avery, Amelia Quirk, Jess Gibbon, Charlotte Dannatt and Megan Keith all racing.
Local athlete Nesbitt was the runner up in Cardiff at the last edition and finished 10th at the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin last December, one place ahead of Gibbon.
Avery is another prolific cross country performer and claimed European silver in 2015, while Keith was the U20 winner in Cardiff 12 months ago and moves to the senior race this time as the reigning European U20 champion.
Competition begins at 11:30am and culminates with the men’s race at 2:50pm.
Alex Donald (Welsh Athletics) for World Athletics
