Sandrafelis show sets off Police championships

The fifth edition of the Kenya Police Service (KPS) track and field championship attracted multiple stars on Tuesday with more Olympics and world champions expected to grace the three day event at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Guest athlete, Sandrafelis Chebet who is a former world youth silver medalist was the winner of the women’s 10,000m final, leaving World Cross silver medalist Stacy Ndiwa and Olympian Lydia Rotich in her wake to take the top podium place.

It was the only event on the cards on opening day and dominated by Chebet. She overtook Beijing Olympics sixth finisher, Ruth Bosibori with five laps to go and continued widening that gap at a comfortable pace.

She held a lead of about 100m over her closest pursuers en route to stopping the timer at 34:19.2.

“I came to check on how my body is responding to training and although I’m still a junior I pray that God gives me the strength to compete at the world athletics championships,” Chebet said in her post-race interview.

First runners up Ndiwa of Kenya Police College (KPC) clocked 34:37.2 followed by Rotich (34:38.5) of Nairobi region for the least podium place. Bosibori of the Coast region faded off into settling for seventh.

The championships will enter its second day on Wednesday where Rio Olympics 3000m steeplechase silver and world champion Hyving Kiyeng will be expected to compete in the women’s 5,000m semi finals.

Commonwealth champion Mercy Cherono and Margaret Chemlimo will also be on that line-up while World champion Nicholas Bett will take on his twin brother and African championships bronze medalist Aaron Koech at the men’s 400m semifinals.

Bett, who finished eighth with a time of 51.09 seconds during the second leg of the IAAF Diamond League in Shanghai, will be desperate for a morale boosting performance.

The dynamic duo of former Olympics champion and three-time World champion Asbel Kiprop and world silver medalist Elijah Manangoi – both from the Presidential Escort Unit could also grace the event.

10,000m results

1. Sandrafelis Chebet 34:19.2
2. Stacy Ndiwa (KPC) 34:37.2
3. Lydia Rotich (KPS/Nrb) 34:38.5
4. Esther Shembai (KPS /Central) 34:48.8
5. Sheila Chesang(GSU) 35:00.5