Ndereba
seeks Commonwealth Games 10,000m place
Omulo Okoth for the IAAF
5 June 2002 - Nairobi -The stage is set for the Kenya Prison Service Athletics
championships due to be held at Nyayo National stadium, five-minute drive from
the Nairobi city centre, from June 6-7, from where the team for the National
Championships (June 19-21) will be selected.
The focus will again be on the Kenyan Prison Services’ “Golden Girls”, a group of world renowned marathon runners who include Catherine Ndereba the holder of the World best time (2:18:47), Susan Chepkemei the holder of World half-marathon best (1:05:44), Margaret Okayo the winner of New York City and Boston City Marathons, and Ruth Kutol the winner of Venice Marathon in 2000 (2:28:16) and runner-up in Paris Marathon (2:27:54) last year.
Ndereba, whose attempt at a third straight Boston City Marathon title was shattered by Okayo last April, where she finished runner-up, will battle it out in the 10,000m in Nairobi with Chepkemei, runner-up for a second successive year at the World Half-Marathon championships in Brussels last month and fifth at London Marathon (2:23:19).
"I am taking the event very seriously because I want to qualify for the Commonwealth Games," Ndereba, also twice winner at Chicago Marathon, said.
"I know it won't be easy because all the athletes are fighting it out for the Nationals and ultimately for the Commonwealth Games, but I will give it my best shot," Ndereba said.
The 5000 metres will parade Okayo, Edith Masai, who won the Women's Short Course race at the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin last March and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics silver medallist Pauline Konga.
Although the men of the Prison Services have tended to live in the shadows of their more illustrious women colleagues, the situation is slowly but steadily changing for the better.
Christopher Kandie won the Hamburg Marathon (2:10:15) on April 21 to announce his arrival on the world stage. Kandie, 32, will run the 10,000 metres during the Prison’s Championships, which he said will be part of his training for future marathon events.
The final day of the championships (June 7) could be overshadowed by those of the Kenyan Armed Forces which will be commence on that day at the ultra-modern Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, some 10 kilometres north-east of the capital.
