Kamworor, Kimeli to close training camps over COVID-19
World Half Marathon record holder Geoffrey Kamworor and junior Africa winner Nicholas Kimeli have welcomed the move by county governments to close athletics training camps to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
The athletes attached to Kaptagat Camp under coach Patrick Sang said while the coronavirus is affecting their way of life and many other things, it will be good to take personal safety first.
“The virus is affecting all and so athletes are not spared. It think the move to suspend sporting events and by extension training is welcome,” noted three-time World Half Marathon winner Kamworor.
Kimeli, who was part of the Kenyan team to the African Cross Country Championships which has since been postponed to 2021 is hopeful everything will go to normal soon.
“It is sad that we are not going to do what we love doing. For us athletics is our life. But it is good to comply with laws, I want to urge all Kenyans to be safe wherever they are,” said Kimeli.
Even before the camps were suspended, Kimeli says the coaches had started to take precautions and focused more on sprints and speed work to easy congestion that is associated with long races.
“Like last week, it was hard to see big groups during training. It is a huge decision coaches and managers had to take to keep everyone safe,” added Kimeli who was third during the 2019 National Cross Country Championships in Nairobi.
On Monday, Nandi Governor Stephen Sang said over 20 training camps had been closed as one of the steps taken to combat the spread of Covid-19 in up to six counties that produce high number of professional athletes.
“We have several foreign athletics managers, agents and the runners flying in and out of the region and we have decided to close the camps for 30 days with immediate effect,” Sang had said earlier in the week.
Major athletics camps in Nandi County are managed and run by Italian-based managers and agents Federico Rosa, Claudio Berardeli and Gianni Demadonna.
Italy is one of the nations adversely hit by the Covid 19 pandemic. Nandi County was set to host the 2020 edition of the Inter-Counties Sports Games from March 25-27, 2020.
The county was also supposed to host the Kenya Secondary School Games at Kapsabet from April 14- 17. It is not clear whether the Games will go on as planned.
