BY AGNES MAKHANDIA IN DAR ES SALAAM
Kenyans rake in track and field gold, silver and bronze medals
VALENTINE Mateiko and Alfred Barach of Team Kenya clinched 10,000 and 5,000m gold medals as the athletics programme at the ongoing Brookside East Africa Secondary Schools Games started yesterday at the Tanzania National Stadium.
Mateiko won the girls 5,000m in 16:30.2 leaving Asah Chesang of Uganda (16:33.3) second and Kenyan compatriot Lucy Chepchirchir (16:38.0) third in the race that attracted six runners.
Zenna Chebet of Uganda settled for fourth position (16:49.3)ahead of Elvanie Nimbona of Burundi with a time of 17:27.0 as Tanzania’s Grace Jackson finished last in 18:40.4.
Commenting on the race, Mateiko, fresh from winning 3,000m bronze at the 1AAF world junior championship in Eugene, Oregon in July, said the race was not too difficult. The Kaptama Secondary School Form Two student said beside the hot weather she and Chepchirchir controlled the race.
She said, “We came in this race aware the Ugandans would be our main competitors and this was proved right. All in all we had prepared well,” Mateiko said,
“The weather somehow affected us since back home we can run for one hour and some minutes before you start to burn. Here (Tanzania) it takes only five minutes and the heat already makes you tired,” Mateiko observed.
In the 10,000m race Barach was first across the finish line in 29:24.7. He was followed by Rwanda’s Cyliag Ndayikingurukite who claimed the silver with a time of 29:37.3. Josphat Ledama crossed the line in 30:01.0 to round up the podium positions.
The race begun on a high note with Ndayikingurukite dictating the race in the first four laps before Barach closed in. The two began to exchange leads till the 12th laps when the two stretched away from the pack.
The Rwandese kept pushing but the Kenyan refused to fade away. In the 21st lap, Barach gunned away and did not look back as he cruised to victory.
Speaking after the race, Barach acknowledged the race was hard and said he had to use tactics to win it.
“The Rwandese had a lot of power and I knew if I allowed him to open the gap, it would work against me. So I had to push from the front and am glad it paid off,” Barach said.
Margaret Nyairera Wambui won all her heats yesterday. She won the 400m race (55.0) and 800m (2:13.7) to book a place in the finals.
In high jump men, Enock Kemboi threw (1.95m) and Richard Biwott (1.92) to win gold and silver. In shot put women Maximila Imali won silver, triple jump men Richard Biwott (14.23) won bronze while in shot putt men Geoffrey Rono threw 12.94 and Tyson Kemboi threw 12.87 to win gold and silver respectively. In Football Kakamega High school suffered a 1-0 loss to Grinti of South Sudan in their last pool “B” match at Nduse grounds.
Kakamega beat Hanika TSS of Rwanda 1-0 on Wednesday and had earlier on played out a goalless draw against Mvara S.S of Uganda and hosts Makongo.
Kisumu Day bowed out after they were humiliated by defending champions St. Mary’s Kitende of Uganda 5-0 on Wednesday. Kisumu were held to a goalless draw by hosts Nyerere and Lt Dama of Burundi in their first and second matches respectively.
In girls matches, Tartar continued their good performances beating Citizen High of Uganda 4-0. Butere bowed out after losing two matches to G Kabusunzu of Rwanda (0-1) and Kawempe Muslim of Uganda and played out a draw against Makongo of Tanzania.
In the basketball, Upper Hill lost to Lord Baden Powell Boys 67-68 in pool “A” to qualify for the quarter-finals. In the girl’s matches, Tigoi beat Parklands Arya 60-55.
In handball, Kimili Boys lost 13-15 to Iscandar Private of South Sudan. Kimilili has so far won only one match, beatingSt Aloys of Rwanda 26-19, before falling to Mwanakwerekwa 13-15 and 26-27 to Dynamic of Uganda.
Courtesy of the-star.co.ke