Japan-based Kenyan athletes speak out on virus

Kenyan athletes based in Japan have had a rough time adjusting their training regimes in view of coronavirus pandemic.

Some of the Kenyan athletes employed by Japanese companies are the 2016 World Half Marathon silver medallist Bedan Karoki, 2016 World Under-20 Championships 5,000 metres bronze medallist Wesley Ledama, 2014 World Under-20 Championships 10,000m bronze medallist Nicholas Kosimbei and Andrew Lorot have spoken of their desire to lead normal lives again.

Other than earning a salary for work done, these athletes also run for companies that employ them. Karoki, who was in Kenya for marathon team selection ahead of Tokyo Olympics, managed to fly out back to Japan on March 17 before Kenya grounded all international flights.

Also to fly out was Kosimbei, who finished second in Beyond Zero Half Marathon race on March 8 in Nairobi.

Both Karoki, the 2015 World Cross Country silver medallist, and Kosimbei work for Toyota company in Nagoya, approximately 391 kilometres from the Japanese capital Tokyo.

"I had to dash here (Japan) since I feared I could be late to change companies, with April deadline looming," Karoki, who changed employers from mobile portal and e-commerce websites provider DeNa to Toyota, told Nation Sport from Tokyo.

"I came here to finalise my transfer. Tokyo is experiencing partial lockdown. Most of shops here are closed now, unlike December when I left here for Nairobi. There are no group training sessions here apart from personalised training meant to help one keep fit," said Karoki.

Ledama, who is with Subaru Company alongside Lorot, said their normal training sessions have been interrupted. "There are no group training in Tokyo and we are now mostly indoors. Things got tough on Friday. We are just indoors and now training individually," said Ledama, a resident of Ota City in Gunma Prefecture, an hour's drive from Tokyo.

"We hear from local news channels that close to 44 people have died here, with more than 2,000 cases having been reported," said Ledama. "We are just praying for God's protection and for things to normalise. Competitions, too, have been stopped. "

Kosimbei, who is based in Tahara, a town located 95 kilometres from Nagoya, gave a different account.

He said athletes in the town have been training normally even though there are no competitions at the moment.

"I am told this area has recorded zero cases of coronavirus but there are 100 cases in the nearby Nagoya city. We have been training normally and in groups as usual unlike in Tokyo where things are not good," said Kosimbei, who runs for the same company as long distance runner Alex Cherono.

Kosimbei said athletes mostly do speed work in groups on Saturdays and train twice daily, except on Sundays.

Kosimbei said the Japanese government has been orderly in implementing measures aimed at stopping coronavirus from spreading in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakaido, among other Japanese cities.

There were nearly 1,400 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Japan, and over 44 deaths as of March 27.