Kamworor, Tirop lead starry cast for national x-country

World Cross champions Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor and Agnes Tirop will headline the stacked Kenya Police Service team that is expecting to sweep the senior long race honours at Saturday’s National Championships in Nairobi.

At the last IAAF World Cross in Guiyang, China in 2015, Kamworor became the first police officer to win the Holy Grail of the event when he led teammate Bedan Karoki to the Kenyan 1-2.

Before the pair floored the Ethiopian challenge, Tirop, then a teenager won the senior women crown with a powerful display of front running as two-time champion and favourite Emily Chebet (now banned for doping) slumped to sixth.

Tirop followed the illustrious footsteps of previous Kenya Police female World Cross champions, Vivian Cheruiyot (2011) and Florence Kiplagat (2009) with the disciplined force that has dominated the medal hunt in recent years keen to impose their supremacy at Uhuru Gardens.

Kamworor and Karoki turned the National Cross Championships into an internal competition for glory at the 2014 and 15 editions and the pair will be the athletes to beat on paper.

The duo also had a repeated performance during last year’s IAAF World Half Marathon championships where Kamworor had a dramatic start of the race after he tripped and fell as the gun went off.

He, however,  remarkably pulled himself back up to take the men’s top honors as Karoki once again settled for the silver medal.

The dynamic duo will be joined by two-time African cross country champion Leonard Barsoton, former junior champion Philemon Rono, Emmanuel Bett and Joseph Kiptum in their quest to take as many positions in men’s national team.

While the women’s team will be led by Tirop who will be joined by Rio Olympics 3,000m silver medalist and World Champion Hyvin Kiyeng ,  Antrim Cross Country champion Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui , Discovery X-country champion Irene Cheptai who finished seventh in Guiyang , police X-country champion Caroline Chepkoech and Pascalia Jepkorir.

In 4X 2Km relay event 1500m Olympics gold medalist and three time world champion Asbel Kiprop will team up with Moscow World 800m golg medalist Eunice Sum, Collins Cheboi a gold medalist in the 4X1500 relay at the 2014 World Championships in Bahamas, 2014 African Championships bronze medalist Ronald Kwemoi and Winfred Mbithe .

 

Selected Team

Men 10km

  1. Geoffrey Kipsang Kwamworor
  2. Emmanuel Bett
  3. Philemon Rono
  4. Bedan Karoki
  5. Joseph Kiptum
  6. Leonard Barsoton

 Women

  1. Caroline Chepkoech
  2. Lucy Cheruiyot
  3. Pascalia Jepkorir
  4. Hyvin Kiyeng
  5. Irene Cheptai
  6. Agnes Tirop

 

Mixed 4X2km

  1. Asbel Kiprop
  2. Collins Cheboi
  3. Ronald Kwemoi
  4. Eunice Sum

Tags:

athletics Geoffrey Kamworor Bedan Karoki

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