Nyahururu coaches launch time-trial for their athletes
Coaches based in Nyahururu have launched monthly time-trials for athletes based in the area to keep the runners in optimum shape for future competitions.
The inaugural time-trial meeting was held on Saturday at the high altitude Nyahururu stadium where about 200 athletes turned up to have their names and outcomes recorded for future reference.
Coach Francis Kamau Mwaniki of Mfae Club said the idea was born out of realization that the area had many athletes but few made it to national teams for such competitions as Africa Championships, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Olympics.
“When I was with the team in Mauritius for the Africa Senior Championships, only two athletes from this region were in the team, that was not very good considering that we have many athletes training here (Nyahururu),” Mwaniki said.
He said a data of each athlete’s time will be kept to help the runners know if they are improving or dropping.
This he said will inform the coach on how to develop a personalized training programme for their runners depending on each runner’s needs.
Athletes led by two-time Boston marathon podium finisher Mary Wacera hailed the time-trial initiative saying it was long overdue.
“Athletes in this area have been lacking a forum to gauge their shape despite doing training consistently.
“This will go a long way in preparing them for competitions,” she said.
Wacera said the programme will instill fighting spirit in the runners which is important during competitions. It emerged during the time-trial meeting that women are getting depleted in the sport as only six appeared for the 10,000m race with only finishing.
Mary Njau topped the three with a time of 38:12.1.
The men’s corresponding race saw three runners going under 30 minutes. Stanley Njihia topped with 29:24.1, he was followed by Pius Karanja 29:41.7 and Elijah Thiga 29:58.2 respectively.
“This race (time-trial) was important for me since I have a 10k road race in two weeks time in Gabon,” Njihia said.
