Jelimo makes welcome return as athletes battle the elements – AK weekend meeting #3

Nairobi, Kenya – Heavy rains have wreaked havoc in many parts of Kenya lately causing death and untold suffering with 13 lives lost in the last two weeks alone. And athletes haven’t been spared either by the elements.

The venue of the weekend’s (2-3 April) third New KCC/ Athletics Kenya track and field meeting in Nakuru had to be shifted from the traditional Afraha Stadium to the Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology after heavy rains around Kenya’s bread basket rendered the muddy Afraha track unsuitable for competition.

But amid the doom and gloom, Olympic 800m champion Pamela Jelimo generated some heat and excitement when she made a triumphant return to the track, winning her specialty after showing up unannounced, her winning time of 2:06.01 signaling the start of what she hopes will be a gradual rise back to the top.

Jelimo, bizarrely only Kenya’s first woman Olympic gold medallist after her 2008 triumph in Beijing, has been out of action with a knee injury she aggravated during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin last year.

Upcoming Winnie Chebet, 20, offered Jelimo the only serious challenge, running the policewoman close in the first 400m before succumbing to Jelimo’s trademark late burst of energy to finish a close second in 2:06.6.

“The doctors told me the injury was a bit serious but thanks to God I’m now okay and today’s win is just a start of the big things to come,” Jelimo, an IAAF Golden League jackpot winner two seasons ago, said, and added that she will show up again for the fourth meeting of the track and field series in the debuting sugar-growing western Kenyan town of Mumias in a fortnight.

“It was not a bad race as I had prepared myself well but Jelimo’s long strides in the home stretch enabled her to clinch the victory,” Jebet, fresh from high school, told journalists.

1442 athletes on show!

After a slow start in the first two meetings in the Lake Victoria city of  Kisumu and central Kenyan town of Nyeri, the weekend’s Nakuru meeting marked the beginning in earnest of what will be an exciting Kenyan season that culminates in the 17th African Athletics Championships in Nairobi from 28 July to 1 August.

Just to demonstrate how huge the turnout in Nakuru was, there were 13 heats in the men’s 800m and 18 heats in the men’s 200m while an overwhelming 304 athletes showed up for the 5000m race and 230 for the men’s 1500m!

With a total of 1442 athletes competing, it was by far the best field in the Kenyan season so far although the field could have been much bigger if Kenyan specialty, the 3000m Steeplechase, was run. The race was cancelled due to the poor state of the water jump made worse by the heavy rains.

Most of the races that attracted huge fields did not have finals with the winners declared based on the times clocked on the murram track with Geoffrey Rono’s 1:46.5 earning him top place in the men’s 800m.

Jelimo was not the only Olympic champion on show, as men’s 1500m champion from Beijing, Asbel Kiprop, turned up too but found the going a bit rough, his time of 3:49.4 putting him well out of the reckoning.

The fastest in this race was Nixon Chepsaina (3:39.7) followed by Silas Kiplagat (3:40.9) with Bethuel Birgen (3:45.6) completing the podium places.