NAIROBI, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Athletes from foreign countries will be allowed to compete in this year's Kenya National Cross Country Championships, according to Athletics Kenya (AK) president Jack Tuwei here on Saturday.
The annual event of the African country, an IAAF permit meeting initiated in 1994, acts as a national trial to select a 30-member team across five disciplines for this year's World Cross Country Championships.
Tuwei said they expect several foreign athletes based in the country to use the opportunity to build up their preparation for the upcoming worlds in Arhus, Denmark on March 30.
"We have very many foreign athletes here including from Europe, Africa and China, all training in our camps in Iten and Eldoret. Some are at the IOC Training Centre in Eldoret. They are all allowed to compete in the competition, because it is part of the IAAF permit meeting," Tuwei said.
Unlike before, the selection will be held in Eldoret, rather than in Nairobi, to attract as many potential athletes as possible.
Beside the national meeting, Tuwei said, a slot in the national team will be reserved as the wildcard, in case a certain athlete that they want to include has suffered sickness or injury to qualify through the trial.
"We will include six athletes in each of the five categories lined up in junior men's and women's, senior men's and women's, and the mixed relays," Tuwei said, adding that they will depend on technical staff to decide on the relay squads.
"In the relays, each runner will run a loop of two kilometers and it is up to the officials to pick the best after the trials," he said.
Kenya is hoping to defend the mixed relay title in Denmark as they won the first championship in Uganda two years ago, when the mixed-gender event was added into the worlds' program. Ethiopia holds the junior men's, junior women's and the senior men's team titles.
Already most athletes are worried about their prospect to make the team, including world 5,000m champion Helen Obiri, who has forfeited the World Indoor Tour to focus on cross country.
"How they will perform on Saturday is raising adrenaline levels among athletes and fans alike," said Tuwei.
