ATHLETICS: Cross country squad gets low profile reception

Kenya’s team to last Sunday’s 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships arrived back home on Monday night to a lukewarm reception.

Eight of the squad remained in Europe to prepare for several track meetings as the build-up for the Beijing Olympics begins in earnest.

Kenya, who swept both junior titles last year, succumbed to Edinburgh’s biting cold and the resurgence of Ethiopia to come home without any individual gold medal for the first time ever since 1984.

After graduating to the senior ranks this year, 2007 junior women’s champion, Linet Masai, couldn’t match the determination of last year’s silver medallist, Tirunesh Dibaba, who won the race in 25 minutes and 10 seconds. Masai hung on to take bronze behind Ethiopia’s Mestawet Tufa and Dibaba. While it was no surprise to see a mass of Kenyans and Ethiopians at the front it was Australia’s Tamara Carvolth who led in the early stages with Kenya’s Mercy Kosgei, last year’s silver medallist, right on her shoulders.

But it wasn’t to be Kosgei’s day. “It was too cold and it I took sometime before I regained my composure. All the same, I’m happy with my performance,” said Kosgei. Ethiopia claimed the senior women’s team title for the seventh consecutive time. Kenya won silver.

Lucas Rotich, who helped Kenya to the junior men’s team gold, said he was now focusing on the season ahead. “I can’t tell you what exactly went wrong, but that has passed and we are now focusing on the Beijing Olympics in August,” said Rotich.

The senior men fared the best with Leonard Patrick Komon’s silver medal, 2006 World Junior Championship silver medallist Joseph Ebuya’s fourth place and Moses Masai’s fifth leading them to team gold although they had expected one of them to win the individual title which went to the Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele.

“Despite having won the team title, we wanted to have at least one of us taking the gold. Although I won silver, I would have wished to win the race. But this doesn’t deter me from advancing in my future races,” said Komon.