NAIROBI, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Kenyan coaches must improve
training and motivation if the country is to end Ethiopia’s
dominance of the world cross country championships, five-times
world champion Paul Tergat said on Saturday.
“We let the Ethiopians inside our tent and they took
control,” Tergat told Reuters at the Kenyan national cross
country championships.
“It will need extraordinary planning and a concerted effort
to get them out. During our time, fear was palpable in their
faces when they competed against us.”
No Kenyan has won the senior men’s title since Tergat’s last
victory in Belfast in 1999, while Ethiopia have won in every
year but one since 2002.
“We have talent, we have facilities, we have good weather
yet we keep giving excuses for the past 11 years. This must end
and it is up to the coaches to find a way of ending it,” said
Tergat, 41.
The 38th championships in Bydgoszsz, Poland, on March 28
will be the last annual edition of the event, which will then
switch to every two years.
“We must get our house in order and leave a mark on the last
edition of the annual format. We must win all the four team gold
medals,” said Tergat, a former 10,000 metres world record holder
who won silver medals at two Olympic Games.
“I have watched the way our boys run in the past years and I
realised they fail in the last kilometre. They also don’t run as
a team. It is a question of endurance and running without a team
strategy.
“Coaches must identify priority areas and start early. One
month in (residential camp) Kigari does not transform one into a
champion. World champions start build-up three months early,
fight to get to the national team and put final touches in
camp,” said Tergat.
“Training is crucial. Coaches should be selected carefully
and athletes motivated. Cases like training kit or allowances
not being ready when athletes proceed to camp…only divert
attention and impact badly on training.”
At the national championships, world 10,000m champion Linet
Masai, who was runner-up at last year’s world cross country
championships in Jordan, won the women’s 8km in 26 minutes 43.0
seconds, ahead of Lineth Chepkurui, who clocked 27:03.5.
Paul Tanui, fourth in the junior category in Amman, upset
the established order in the men’s 12km race, winning in 35:12.5
ahead of Lucas Rotich (35:42.7) and Joseph Ebuya (35:44.8).
Leonard Komon, who has been the top Kenyan in the past two
world championships with second place in Edinburgh in 2008 and
fourth in Amman, trailed in fifth.
(Reporting by Jack Oyoo; Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or
comment on this story email [email protected])
