Hits and misses at national cross country in Eldoret

The 2025 national cross country championships held in Eldoret on Saturday lived up to its billing in numerous of aspects.

From setting the stage for the track season that begins on February 13 in Western Region to thrilling races and crowd-pulling, the Eldoret showdown delivered entertaining athletics.

Some rising athletics stars stylishly transitioned to the senior ranks at the national contest.

Even before the biggest showdown this year (the World Championships) the country’s track superstars will have battled for honours in the Diamond Leagues from April.

With the battle for the 2025 national cross championships title settled, focus shifts to the Sirikwa Classic World Cross Country Tour scheduled for February 23 at the Lobo Village in Kapseret, Uasin Gishu County.

But the just concluded showpiece had its fair share of hits and misses.

We look at the major highlights from the bronze level cross country event staged at the iconic Eldoret Sports Club.

The hits

As touted, the event turned out to be a major crowd-puller and entertainment in a city where athletics is a religion.

Sizeable crowds positioned themselves on vantage locations and cheered the stars as they braved a hot afternoon. Legends who laid the marker in several athletics events among them 1968 Olympic champion Kipchoge Keino, three-time Boston Marathon champion Ibrahim Hussein and Paul Tergat, the outgoing National Olympic Committee Kenya (NOC-K) president, among many others, further spiced up the national event.

International athletes

The event attracted several athletes from other countries who took part in the Kenyan showpiece.

Although the foreign stars who competed as guest participants were not near the top ten, they completed the senior men’s 10km races during the afternoon contest.

Fight against age cheating

The national cross country championships offered a platform for the Kenyan federation to wage war against age cheating, a menace that alongside doping, has injured the country’s reputation on the global scene.

Under-20 participants were subjected to a scrutiny aimed at taming age manipulation ahead of the national cross country competition.

The misses

For a bronze level event such as this, expectations were high.

Expectations of meeting certain international standards appeared a mirage.

Timing systems, for example, have since shifted to modern electronic applications that have proved effective and easier.

But the national cross country event is yet to adopt the electronic system.