Athletics
Athletics Kenya has embarked on a registration exercise aimed at registering all athletes and coaches residing and training in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Milka Chemos from AK called on all athletes and coaches in the county to ensure they register in the exercise which started on Thursday and will end on Tuesday next week saying only those registered will be recognized by AK.
Speaking to the press in Iten, Chemos said AK intended to have a data base for all athletes and their coaches which will help to know how many they are, their age, where they come from and also monitor them when they are in or outside the country.
She added that the data will be used by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) and AK. Chemos explained that with the data in place, AK will be able to assist them in various ways especially the upcoming ones to acquire visas whenever they are needed to travel outside the country.
One of the coaches Richard Kanja said given that Iten hosts a number of athlete training camps and also has produced quite a number of renowned athletes, there are more than 5,000 athletes both local and foreign training in the area and therefore the importance of registering them.
He added that there are also over 42 coaches saying the registration will assist in sensitizing them on banned drugs saying most athletes don’t even know the drugs they are accused of taking. Lekakeny Franklin from Kajiado who trains in Iten welcomed the exercise while Gilfin Koskey an upcoming athlete said he hoped the exercise would assist athletes like him who would want to make it in athletics but are not able as they cannot afford.
Koskey said he works in a hardware in Iten to earn a living and trains only once in a day in the morning before reporting to work which is not enough.