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G21 AFRICA - 35th IAAF WORLD CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS - MOMBASA: Kenya Staff Writer MORAA GITAA reports on the an international sport event that speaks to the pride of her country.Mombasa, KENYA - "... It was very difficult. I have never run a race in such difficult conditions ever before in my life. But I tried all I could. I gave it all I could. I did not want to collapse and have people pick me up. I made a decision to drop out. I thought I was okay when I dropped out, but from what people tell me, I was not conscious when I stopped running, I do not know what might have happened if I had continued running. At first, I did not want to believe that I had dropped out and was not capable of finishing the race. But I am not too upset now. I tried all I could. I would like to say congratulations to him (Eritrean Zerseney Tardesse) He is strong runner. I beat him for the last three years, but well done for him for coming back and handling the conditions... " - Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele - Olympic and World 10,000m Champion, and recently dethroned World Cross Country Champion.
Moraa Gitaa
I think I should entitle this article 'Tale of a Brutal Course That Broke Celebrated Athletes.' But that will come later in this piece, for now...
The successful and peaceful hosting of the 35th IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa on Saturday 24th March 2007 which cost over 400 million to organize was a great and uplifting victory for Kenya.
Despite international efforts to frustrate the Kenyan spirit through issuance of negative travel advisories that threatened and, perhaps, assisted in convincing more gullible nationals from coming to sample the beauty of tropical Africa, the nationals from 63 countries who chose to ignore the Big Brother syndrome and found their way to Mombasa took home priceless first-hand experiences and memories, the kind not even funded PR campaigns can deliver.
Kenya's security preparedness was put under severe test by hosting these championships in an area the international community considers to be a hotbed of terrorism in the region.
All members of the specially trained VIP Protection Squad - the Anti-Terrorism, Diplomatic and Tourist Police - were among officers recalled and assigned to Mombasa to reinforce the security personnel already in place.
Additional police from different parts of the Coast province as well as others from divisions country-wide were re-deployed to provide maximum security at the beach hotels, the Mombasa CBD (Central Business District), the airport and other key areas.
The presence of President Kibaki and IAAF President Lamine Diak and other officials, international track stars and high-powered delegations from cities like Barcelona (Spain), Moscow (Russia), Daegu (South Korea) and Brisbane (Australia) bidding for the 2011 World Athletics Championships goaded the local security agents to go into over-drive and make elaborate arrangements.
Apart from the normal deployment of security personnel who patrol the coastal town 24/7, more than 1,000 officers from the dreaded Paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) and Flying Squad were reported to have participated in the security exercise.
They included members of the specialized Commando Recce Company from Ruiru, Mombasa State House-Based 'G' Company and the Headquarters Company from Ruaraka, Nairobi.The Recce and G Company are trained in the protection of VIP's as well as rescue and evacuation operations, including crowd control.
The security teams were deployed along with hundreds of police vehicles, 200 "sniffer" police dogs and their handlers and 40 crowd-control horses ferried from Nairobi and the Anti-Stock Theft Unit, some of which were breathing hard trying to acclimatize.
4 police helicopters as well as boats from the Kenya Navy, Police, Kenya Army, KPA (Kenya Ports Authority), KRA (Kenya Revenue Authority) were also on hand for air and sea patrols. Also deployed were marine police and high-tech equipment such as anti-riot vehicles fitted with water cannons.
Not forgetting the inconspicuous CID (Criminal Investigations Department) officers snooping around every conceivable corner.
Coast Provincial Police Boss King'ori Mwangi said enough security arrangements had been made to ensure the event was held peacefully. No wonder IAAF President gave Kenya a thumbs up for security and an event well-organised!
For the locals of this coastal city, the cleaning, refurbishment and infrastructure development including roads and traffic lights and general clean-up that has changed the face of Mombasa, will be evident long after the Cross-Country becomes a fading memory.
Trade for the business community got a shot in the arm; they got an opportunity to present their wares to patrons they would never have seen nor interacted with.
The jokes ran, doing the rounds, that if you were seen wearing sandals, shorts and spaghetti or halter tops, you'd be arrested by the City Council officials who were conducting the sprucing up!
In terms of actual value, the exposure Kenya has achieved through media coverage of the race and the pre-race preparations is priceless. At the continental level, our abilities were proven by the successful hosting of the 4th All Africa Games in 1987. The just concluded 35th IAAF World Cross Country Championships was therefore a litmus test for Kenyans in more ways than one.
G21 Correspondent Moraa Gitaa at the IAAF Cross Country Championships This was why it was important for this country to come forward and prove that not only do we continue to produce world beating athletes, but we have equally developed the technical expertise and capacity to host the world. That is why the successful hosting of the championship was crucial.
The turnout was phenomenal. Never have I seen such patriotism and unity.That aside, let us turn to the actual venue for the high drama that unfolded in the excruciating heat of 36 plus degrees Celsius, which almost slipped into 40 in Mombasa.
Under clear skies, the drone of the helicopter blades resonating deep down the bowls of the Likoni channel that fronts the Mombasa Golf Club, the 35th edition of the IAAF World Championships was finally being held.
Qatar athletes most of whom are former Kenyans who in recent years have defected to the gulf states and even changed their names due to the lure of big bucks were no match for their Kenyan brothers.
It was a real triumph and a moment of pride for Kenya who was hosting and staging the first championships in tropical Africa attended by President Kibaki, top Government and sports officials and one of the biggest crowds ever witnessed at a global contest.
The area around the course was sealed off. No vehicles were allowed in while armed police officers patrolled the area, some on horseback. CFI (Channel France International) rightly commented that Mombasa had become a police state of late and had been virtually under a security curfew!) Paul Tergat took the role of commentating for the French sports television channel.
Residents of Mombasa started pouring into the scenic course overlooking the Indian Ocean at 10 am for a day of music and dance before the action.
Safaricom and Tusker branded over 10,000 spectators with their colors and miniature Kenyan flags. By 3 pm, when President Kibaki declared the games open, the carnival mood of activity had reached an anti-climax like crescendo with the air full of coastal drum beats of taarab and bango with people clapping and dancing along. Not forgetting our mascot the cheery elephant Tsavo doing his jig on the grounds.
A day earlier at a pre-race press conference, reigning senior men's world champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia who had last month said he would not be running in Mombasa only to change his mind in the last week, rubbed Kenyans the wrong way when he said that that he had not come to humiliate Kenyans on their home ground, only for the tables to be turned and his reign to end in an ignominious and melodramatic way by being humiliated and loosing to Eritrean Zersenay Tardesse in an afternoon of high drama especially during the senior men's 12km race at the Mombasa Golf Course where a crowd of more than 30,000 turned up to enjoy the action.
Tardesse, second in the 2005 championships, clocked 35 minutes 50 seconds followed by Kenyans Moses Mosop (36:13) who had to run with one shoe after loosing the other in the first lap, and third was Bernad Kiprop (36:37)
"I am very happy. Words cannot express my joy. I don't know what happened to Bekele, maybe he was injured or something. He is a very strong athlete. I won. I am very happy," said Tardese who led Bekele for the better part of the race but was relegated to second before he made a fight back to level with Bekele who, through a sandy section, grimaced and briefly slowed down. Unexpectedly, Tardesse started to pull away. The moment of truth struck the Ethiopian fans with such force that many broke in tears when their star runner stopped, shook his head and walked off the track holding his stomach.
He later said briefly that he had suffered stomach stitches.
I beg to differ and think that humidity surely played havoc with his plans of making history with a sixth consecutive title win.
Kenyan fans cheered on Tardesse chanting in Swahili "Yote yawezekana bila Bekele" (All is possible without Bekele.) Eritrean fans were overwhelmed by the win and one man went down on his knees and kissed Tardesse's feet.
Moses Mosop of Kenya who won the silver aided by six colleagues said: "Halfway through the race, I felt pain in the left leg. I am happy with the results. I had expected to win the bronze medal."
Bronze medalist Michael Kipyego also of Kenya could not believe his luck. "It is a total surprise for me and I have no words to express my joy. I did not expect to win bronze, but I knew I would finish in the top six. Things changed so fast and I can only attribute this to hard training."
Word later on the ground from excited Kenyan fans who had been cheering the Eritrean on was that Bekele who was aiming for a sixth straight win, seeing that he was beaten by the Eritrean and the Kenyan was on the way to relegating him to third position decided to fall out.
The senior men's world record though remains a Kenyan domain courtesy of Paul Tergat as it still stands unchallenged and unbroken.
The main victors of the day were clearly Kenyans who put on a well organized event and collected five out of the possible eight gold medals up for grabs.
For the first time in close to a decade, Ethiopia went back home without an individual gold medal. For Kenya it was unmatched jubilation and celebration as individually, we won three gold, bronze and silver in junior events as well as silver and bronze in the men's event.
It was determination and team work which helped the Kenyan junior team to sweep the board clean. The athletes complained of the sweltering heat. Who wouldn't? Most of us had donned straw hats, sun glasses and strapless tops to counter the sun's rays! They described the Mombasa race as the toughest they have ever gone through.
Under humid and hot conditions in the Junior women's 6km race, defending champion Pauline Korikwiang dropped out due to a miscalculation of laps by her and Ethiopian duo Genzebe Dibaba and Emebet Etea which saw her Kenyan counterpart Linet Chepkwemoi lead teammates Mercy Kosgei and Veronica Nyaruai to a victorious 1-2-3 finish. She posted 20 minutes 52 seconds, Kosgei 20:59 and Nyaruai 21:10.
Chepkwemoi who was lost for words, gasped for breath leaving all the talking to her pursuant Mercy Kosgei and Veronica Nyaruai. The Ethiopian trio could not sustain the pressure from their rivals Kenya and could only settle for the fourth and fifth slots. Sule Utura posted 21:13 while Genzebe Dibaba posted 21:23 ahead of Eritrean Meraf Bahta.
Kenya's Gladys Chemwono settled for the seventh position in 21:27 beating Eritrean trio of Furtuna Zegergish, Kokob Mehari and Yodi Mehari to the eight, ninth and tenth slots.
Second-placed Kosgei who improved from bronze in Fukuoka Japan, in 2006, to silver this year in Mombasa said she was proud to have leapt a step up and was hoping to make it gold in Edinburgh, Scotland next year.
"When I saw Pauline Korikwiang (Kenyan winner in Fukuoka, Japan last year) stopping after the 4km mark, I knew that we still had another lap and I encouraged my partners Barasa and Nyaruai to keep going and I was relieved to claim the second slot. This was a real test of our team spirit efforts, we had done our training well and we were really doing as planned but then Korikwiang stopped. This jolted us to think of a second strategy and we are very proud it succeeded and we have the team title."
Young bronze medalist Nyaruai said she almost contemplated dropping out after five kilometers but kept on pushing to see what she would get in the end. "The humidity and heat was so intense. I have not run under such conditions before," she said.
Kenya has thus maintained a firm grip on the junior women's title for over seven years in a row, and the feat attests to the fact that no nation on earth can match the cross country talent and depth produced by this East African nation.
The junior men in their 8km race were to emulate this feat by scooping the first four positions. Asbel Kiprop won the gold in 24:12 followed by Vincent Kiprop Chepkok 24:17, Mathew Kisorio 24:23 and Leonard Patrick Komon fourth in 24:25.
Asbel Kiprop said it was determination to defend the title they won last year in Fukuoka, Japan, which kept them going otherwise it would have been very difficult. "Today, the course was very different from the one we used during the trials, with very sharp bends and heavy soil presence which made running very difficult. This coupled with the uncompromising afternoon Mombasa heat made it quite difficult."
At one point, Kiprop says he thought his colleagues had vanished, but says he kept on going and with sheer determination, caught up with them to win.
A visibly exhausted Vincent Chepkok said he got motivation from the fact that Kenyans were holding the first four positions and believed he would finish in the medal bracket. "We had prepared well for the championships and believed in the race plan which was to stay in front through out. We occupied the top four positions which was really satisfying." Chepkok said.
In the senior women's race, Kenyans cheered on Kenyan-born Lorna Kiplagat of the Netherlands to victory in the senior women's race as she went on to break Ethiopia's dominance of the senior women's race. Last year in Fukuoka, Japan she was second to Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba. Kenyans proudly urged her on shouting "Lorna wetu!" "Lorna wetu!" which means "Our Lorna!" "Our Lorna!" Some had donned T-shirts with 'TEAM LORNA' emblazoned on them. Many Kenyans consider her Kenyan and termed her victory more Kenyan than Dutch and would listen to nothing else!
"By winning this race, I have motivated the Kenyan men to beat Bekele. They can do it." said Kiplagat who led from gun to tape and crossed the finish line wrapped in the Dutch national flag she had confidently grabbed from a fan with 100 metres to go and finished in 26:23.
"Last night I met Isaac Kalua (Local organizing committee's Chief Executive) who told me that he was confident I would win and I've won. Encouragement like that coming from such a senior person motivated me. I had also won in this course last month and in Puerto Rico." An elated Kiplagat enthused.
"We were in Puerto Rico for two weeks where the conditions are also tough. It is always around 30 degrees in Puerto Rico and humid. When we came to Mombasa, the body responded very well. I also believe a big advantage was that Lorna ran the nationals last month here in Mombasa.' Said her h usband and Coach Pieter Langerhorst.
Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia who was last year's champion followed in 26:47 with compatriot Meselech third posting a time of 26:48.
Dibaba later said "... The heat had already done a lot of damage and I decided not to hurt myself more and after the second lap I decided to go for silver... "
Finally contrary to expectations, this year's event favored road racers. Five-time Cross Country champion Paul Tergat said road racers coped better with the heat at the Mombasa Golf Course than track stars.
This was evident in the wins by Eritrea's Zersenay Tardesse in the senior men's race and Kenyan-Born Holland's Lorna Kiplagat.
Tergat attributed their wins to the endurance factor. "Road racers have more endurance and with this kind of heat, that is all one needs. Lorna and Tardesse won purely because of their endurance capability. These are people who are used to these kinds of conditions and the trick was to keep going," Tergat said "Lorna knew a sprint finish would be counter-productive and decided to open an early gap. Her plan worked well and it does not matter what the Ethiopians were going to do."
Tergat further added that it was difficult for the track stars to survive in that kind of weather because they are not used to it. The five-time World champion confided that he has raced all over the world, but has never seen these kind of conditions. "During my cross-country career, it was either muddy or cold. But the heat in Mombasa was a really huge challenge especially for the upcoming runners."
He particularly sympathized with the junior women runners whose event was the first one at 3.30 pm and the humidity was still too high. Breathing with difficulties, many athletes fainted before finishing their races and others had memory lose which took paramedics and psychiatrists up to an hour to bring them back to their senses.
Running in her first international competition, 17 year-old Linet Masai who won in the women's junior race and Veronica Nyaruai suffered the same fate, while in another incident the world junior men's cross country champion Asbel Kiprop's shoe had to be cut off his foot after developing blisters.
The medical tent run by the Coast General Hospital and the Red Cross was a bee-hive of activity and resembled a disaster zone as athlete after athlete was carried in after fainting or due to dehydration. Some athletes suffering from effects of excessive heat were put on a drip. At the finishing line, athletes were dipped in drums of iced water to cool them. 12-ton trucks of water were dispatched every half hour or so to replenish the drums! The area resembled cattle dips found in rural Kenya.
Head of emergencies, Caleb Odera, said about 24 athletes were rushed to the Aga Khan Hospital with various problems. Most were however discharged after a couple of hours. Although Mombasa was described as the best cross country course in history, it will also certainly go down in history books as the toughest ever.
During the medals ceremony, fans sang the Kenyan national anthem passionately every-time it rent the air played by the Armed Forces Band in the flood lit course with ships gliding in and out of port.
A carnival atmosphere engulfed the Mombasa Golf Course as Kenyans roundly welcomed the downfall of five-time double winner Kenenisa Bekele with drumbeats.
The fiesta was not only about Bekele's legendary fall, whose news spread across the world like bushfire, but also the Kenyan haul of virtually every medal available. Standing witness for a country on a conquering spree were thousands of excited Kenyans led by President Kibaki.
Kenya led, followed by Morocco with 146 and Uganda with 185
The Kenyan models handing over the medals and bouquets to the dignitaries to present to the winning athletes were resplendent in a unique outfit echoing ethnic chic combined with African heritage and splendor designed by the Bombolulu Workshops for the Physically Handicapped, a project of the APDK (Association of Physically Disabled of Kenya.)
The Kenyans will be rewarded generously for retaining the overall team title at the event, Mr. Peter Angwenyi, (AK) Athletics Kenya head of publicity said. They had received a pledge of half a million Kenya Shillings from East African Breweries Limited and they expected more congratulatory pledges to pour in.
In a related incident, Kenenisa Bekele in a post-race statement released through the (EAF) Ethiopian Athletics Federation a couple of days later, said the Mombasa race was the toughest he had ever participated in.
"... even before I started the race, I was completely shocked to see some of our junior women runners drop out or collapse at the finish line. I knew it was going to be a bad race." He said "I was preparing to race when I saw Emebet Etea running backwards. Soon afterwards, I also witnessed the junior men collapsing.
I did not start my race in a relaxed manner as I usually do. The course of the race was not suited to my liking. There was some sand and it prevented me from gliding over the turf as I was used to. My spikes could not handle the course.
It was very difficult competing against four factors - the sand, the asphalt, the weather and of course, the world class challengers." He continued "I felt dehydrated for much of the race. At times, I just wanted to stop, take some liquid and carry on." Said Bekele. "It was very difficult. I have never run a race in such difficult conditions ever before in my life. But I tried all I could. I gave it all I could.
I did not want to collapse and have people pick me up. I made a decision to drop out," said the Olympic and World 10,000m champion "I thought I was okay when I dropped out, but from what people tell me, I was not conscious when I stopped running, I do not know what might have happened if I had continued running... .
At first, I did not want to believe that I had dropped out and was not capable of finishing the race. But I am not too upset now. I tried all I could. I would like to say congratulations to him (Tedesse) He is strong runner. I beat him for the last three years, but well done for him for coming back and handling the conditions... "
Not easy sailing at all. After all is said and done, the better man won the race! The brutally hot and humid conditions will in future come to define the Mombasa championships. It was not a Sunday walk in the park but a course athletes will not forget in a hurry.
On the other hand delegations from bidders for the 2011 World Athletics Championships who had attended the cross country championships holed up at the five-star Sarova Whitestands beach hotel on the North Coast of Mombasa to continue lobbying for their cities.
Cities bidding were Barcelona (Spain), Moscow (Russia), Daegu (South Korea) and Brisbane (Australia.)
After a day of final presentations, the IAAF selected the South Korean city of Daegu as host of the 2011 World Athletics Championships, the Mayor Kim Bum-II and Shin Jeom-Sik, the Secretary General of the city's bid commission said they were confident of hosting a successful championship. The IAAF also announced that Moscow would host the 2013 championships.
The 35th Mombasa 2007 World Cross Country Championships have in every way super-ceded the past seven such previous events held in bigger cities of the world, including Fukuoka in Japan, which hosted last year's show. What better way to celebrate Kenya bagging its 21st team title in a row? None was happier than Sports Minister Maina Kamanda, five time world cross country champion and marathon world record holder Paul Tergat and IAAF President Lamine Diack.
Tribute also goes to the Inter-Ministerial Committee led by Francis Muthaura who together with Isaac Kalua the Local Organizing Com mittee's Chief Executive worked overtime to reassure the world that Mombasa was safe despite alarms raised by the US Embassy security alerts.
© 2007, GENERATOR 21.
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