Athletics Kenya joins growing calls to renovate deplored Thika Stadium

ATHLETICS Athletics Kenya joins growing calls to renovate deplored Thika Stadium

Abigael Wafula 09:04 - 15.03.2023

The Thika Stadium was used to host the third Athletics Kenya weekend meet.

Athletics Kenya Senior Vice president Paul Mutui has called for the renovation of the dilapidated Thika Stadium.

Mutui pleaded with the county government to ensure the facilities are up to the standard of World Athletics.

The Thika Stadium, for instance, has a gravel surface instead of tartan tracks. Its poor state does not comply with the World Athletics standards and, therefore, all the times recorded cannot be ratified.

“I would like to request the county government to try and get facilities that meet the expectations of the World Athletics. For instance, the facilities here (Thika Stadium) are not acceptable hence athletes cannot qualify for global events with times recorded here,” he said.

The Thika Stadium was used to host the third Athletics Kenya meet and a number of athletes complained of the poor course.

An example was race walker Silvia Kemboi who lamented saying that there was too much dust. “The course is bad and there was too much dust as we were competing,” she said.

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Mutui, who also doubles up as the Competitions Director, was impressed by the huge turnout of sprinters at the third AK weekend meet. He noted that he will be keen to ensure that the athletes are enrolled into training camps.

“The kind of enthusiasm we are seeing with these athletes is enormous. I will have a discussion with the president and the executive committee to source for funds so that we can organise camps for these athletes who show up for the meets. We shall start with the sprinters,” he said.

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