By OUR CORRESPONDENT
Athletics Kenya (AK) on Wednesday launched its 2024/25 calendar activities culminating in next year’s World Championships in Tokyo.
Dubbed ‘Road to Tokyo,’ the calendar of activities includes local and international competitions all of which are geared towards preparing Team Kenya into a formidable participant at the global event.
Speaking during the launch at Weston Hotel, Nairobi, Sports Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen urged all stakeholders to align themselves with the calendar by setting measurable and long-term targets for Tokyo.
“With the 2024/25 calendar now released, I urge all the athletes and their coaches to keep their eyes firmly on the ball. I want to congratulate AK for a job-well-done…the calendar is quite expansive and includes cross country, marathon, track and field as well as mountain running,” Murkomen said in a speech read by principal secretary Peter Tum.
The CS further noted that the calendar presents a great opportunity for the federation to partner with the corporate sector to identify and nurture talent during local competitions.
“Partnership with the corporate sector is important for identification of new talent. We need to expand our sports portfolio to enhance our chances of winning much more medals at the international stage. At the Olympics, we clinched six medals, which is far below what we are capable of,” Murkomen said.
In his remarks, Tum said the Road to Tokyo is indicative of an organization that is thinking of the long-term with athletes at the centre of their decisions.
“There is no success where are not organized so I’d like to say kudos to AK. It is one organised federation and I am happy about the things we discussed with the CS in his office. They are planning to do elections and I know it will all be well,” the PS said.
AK President Jack Tuwei said the upcoming season portends a lot of opportunities for all stakeholders, including athletes, coaches, managers, the federation as well as corporate partners.
“Athletics Kenya is currently in a unique position in that the CS has issued instructions that we need to look outside for support as opposed to depending on the Government Financial input alone. It is for this reason we have approached some corporates to support us in this Road to Tokyo,” Lt Gen (Rtd) Tuwei said.
He added that the federation is embracing technological innovations to execute its mandate as the local governing body for the sport.
“The future of Athletics in the world will be dictated by the pace of digital development. It is expected that over the next 5 years we expect the following: artificial intelligence, data, sports entertainment and development; and augmented reality,” he said.
The first event of the new calendar year is this Saturday’s Betika Cross Country in Kericho, which will be followed by Run for Health and Fitness 10k Run in Eldoret on Sunday.
