NAIROBI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will hold national trials next week to select its team to represent the country at this year's World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, athletics official said on Thursday.
Barnaba Korir, head of youth development at Athletics Kenya, said stiff competition is expected at the national trials to be held on February 23 in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret.
"The upcoming and elite athletes will offer good competition as they fight for slots in the team, as well as trying to position themselves ahead of the World Athletics Championships to be held in Doha later in the year," Korir told Xinhua in Nairobi.
Korir tipped Kenya to retain the title it won two years ago, saying that they already have an idea of the layout of the Aarhus course.
"We are told the organizers have introduced some brand new aspects for the course, which will take runners through the grassy, sloping roof of the Moesgaard Museum, with steep ascents and descents," Korir said.
"This, however, doesn't really matter, because we received the details of the course long ago, and various athletes have also familiarized themselves with Aarhus' current weather conditions."
At the 2017 World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, Uganda, Kenya won the overall team title, in addition to the senior men, senior women and mixed relays honors.
Kenya is the most decorated nation in the history of cross country running, having won the most number of medals in all categories, including overall winners.
During the 2010 World Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Kenya swept all the medals on offer, a feat unprecedented in the history of the event.
