Kenya dropped eight veteran runners in this year's 36th IAAF World Cross-Country Championships to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 30.
According to the final list presented by the Athletics Kenya (AK) Secretary General David Okeyo, only two athletes who were in Mombasa last year -- Mercy Kosgei and Mathew Kisorio -- have retained their places in the team of 10 junior runners.
Kisorio returns to the junior cross country to better his chances of winning the junior title after promising to fellow compatriot Asbel Kiprop, who will not be running in Scotland, that his title will remain in "familiar territory".
Winner of the Kenya national cross country Gideon Ng'atuny, who finished fourth in Mombasa last year and Joseph Ebuya, will be leading the Kenyan charge for the elusive 12km title that was last won by Kenyans in 1999.
Ng'atuny, a Masai word for lion, has promised to combine efforts with team captain Mark Kiptoo and cause a major ambush to the title holder and pretenders to the title.
They will be beefed up by Hosea Macharinyang and Augustine Choge. With the field wide open after Lornah Kiplagat opted out of the cross country, the Kenya senior women squad comprise of graduates who run away with the junior title in Mombasa.
Assistant team captain Gladys Momany will headline the Kenyan chase alongside junior women cross country winner Linet Masai.
Priscah Jepleting brings with her the much needed experience that may prove beneficial as Kenyans seek to reclaim this title.
Mercy Kosgei (bronze in Fukuoka, silver in Mombasa) will bid for a third in her final year as a junior in the women's 6km race.
The experienced runner, also a silver medallist (1,500m) at the World Junior and Africa Junior Championships, will be joined by national junior cross champion, Christine Kambua, Chebet Cheptai, Delvin Mergon, Dorcas Chepchirchir and Jacqueline Chebii as Kenya bids to defend the team and individual titles it has won in the last four years.
Veterans Isaac Songok (men's 12km) and Vivian Cheruiyot (women's 8km), who won silver in 5,000m at last year's World Championships in Osaka and finished eighth in Mombasa last year, were the big names who missed out on the traveling party.
Others are: Barnabas Kosgei (men's 12km), former world youth champion, Pauline Korikwiang (women's 8km), Paul Tanui and Samuel Ndungu (men's junior 8km) and junior women's 6km pair of Susan Wairimu and Winnie Cheptoo whose age was deemed too young to compete.
Kosgei, a bronze medallist in the 2005 event in St. Etienne in 8km junior men's race, finished eighth during the national trials held at Ngong Race Course. He could not hold back his tears upon being informed of his omission.
"I do not understand how they opted to take on Augustine Choge (the Commonwealth Games 5,000m champion), who finished 20th, and left me. You mean I was not running, too?" he said when he confronted head coach Julius Kirwa.
The AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat, however, asked athletes who had been dropped to focus on future competitions.
"Being dropped does not mean that you were not important or good enough. It means the coaches saw some better skills and talent in your colleague. You should embrace it as a professional and focus on coming events," Kiplagat said.
Source: Xinhua
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