Tuesday 20 April 2010

Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot wins Boston but Kenyan athletes may suffer losses

Thanks to our sportsmen we breath a sigh of relief again as the media is peppered by verbal diarrhoea and the tempers start rising thanks to the intended referendum mid this year.
One Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot ran the race of his life to win the Boston Marathon in race record. We congratulate him on this mean achievement. His is a worthy victory and firmly puts Kenya once again on the map.
On another note though, concerns have been raised about Kenyan athletes missing out on major races coming up in Europe in the next few weekends. The London Marathon comes to mind as well as the soon-to-continue Grand Prix in Europe. The earnings from our athletes is something that has been overlooked for many years but one which plays into our remittances from abroad. As much as $100,000 could be lost in a single weekend's missed earnings and endorsements as well as appearance fees.

Visit the North Rift Valley and you'll know what I'm talking about. Various options are being explored with some athletes thinking of taking shorter flights to North Africa where they can take the road into Europe.
It seems the volcanic ash was finally going to hurt us too. Talk about 'globalisation'.

Quick Update:

London Marathon organisers make arrangements for Kenyan athletes to be airlifted. Guess we do matter after all !

No comments: