Old resilience and emergence of new stars witnessed at Betika Bingwafest in Eldoret

Christmas came a few days early for the winners as there were big prizes up for grabs in the 100m to 10,000m races. A lot of attention has been paid to the two longer tracks, probably to attract the best runners in the region. Both seasoned and new talent took to the track to showcase their running skills at the two-day event, which began on Thursday, December 19 and concluded on Friday, December 20.

Christine Njoki won the women’s 10,000m in what was arguably one of the most competitive events on the second day of athletics after falling out of the three-man lead in the closing stages of the race.Mercy Cherono, the 2013 World 5000m silver medalist and 2014 Commonwealth Games games champion, finished second after finishing second the previous day place in the 5000m race.

“Getting ready to run on the track next year. It’s my first time running on the track, so I still have to decide if I’m going to do the 5000m or the 10,000m to make the team for the Tokyo World Championships. Running with Mercy Cherono for me today.” it gave me confidence that I can perform well on the track,” Njoki said.

The 25-year-old, who trains under trainer Ben Mayo at Newton Management, says her racing career could begin next year with the Valencia 10K in January.

The men’s 10,000m was the first event of the first day of the meet, with Nakuru’s Ernest Kimutai sailing through a packed field that kicked up dust on the track to win in 29:12.4, ahead of Vincent Thwaite (29:13.2) and Kenneth Kiprono (29:13.2). 15.1).

The other exciting event of the second day was the men’s 5000m race, in which relatively new stars with great potential made their mark, Ezekiel Ruto, who trains with coach Ian at St Patrick’s, breaking away in the last 1000m. over the competition to build a comfortable lead on his way to 13:57.5, a second faster than Felix Kibet’s impressive run in the first heat.

Miriam Cherop, who was part of the quartet that won the medley relay at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships and who won silver at the 2018 World Under-20 Championships, was the star of the track meet after winning the women’s 800m and 1500m. spectacular performances.

After failing to secure a win in the men’s 1500m on Day 1, 2022 World Indoor silver medalist Noah Kibet returned to his specialty to win the men’s 800m, a great boost to his form as he looks to start his World Athletics career closed season.

Olympic 800-meter champion Emmanuel Vagnoni ran in the 4 x 400-meter relay, moving his team from 5th on the anchor leg to 4th.

Sara Moraa, the world under-20 and African champion in the women’s 1500m race, said she had yet to start her proper training for the run and was just there for fun.