Kamworor to begin season at Police cross-country

Three-time World Cross Country champion Geoffrey Kamworor, commonly known as ‘Man of all Surfaces’ due to his ability to master cross country, track and marathon races, has a busy season ahead.

Kamworor, who is looking forward to a successful season, has already embarked on training for national cross country trials which will be held at Eldoret Sports Club in Uasin Gishu County next month. Kamworor will be seeking a place in Team Kenya that will compete in 2018 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, in March.

But his first test for the season will be the National Police Service Cross Country Championships on January 26.

“I will using the National Police Service Cross Country Championships to gauge my performance before the national trials. My goal is to get in good shape, and to give a good account of myself in Denmark,” said Kamworor.

Kamworor, who trains at Kaptagat alongside World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge, said he is targeting even more glory this year.

“I had a good season in 2018 and I’m now seriously training for the national cross country trials. I want to make the team that will represent Kenya in the global event in March,” Kamworor, who is also a four-time World Half Marathon champion, said.

The athlete said balancing track, road, marathon and cross country events is a delicate affair but his determination and hard work is what makes him deliver.

“It’s quite hard to concentrate on three different fields in a year and to succeed in them, but with determination and hard work, I hope to deliver because there is enough time. For now, I will be concentrating on cross country events,” said Kamworor.

The athlete told Nation Sport that the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark will not be a walk in the park as he anticipates strong opposition from men’s 5,000 metres and 10,000m Commonwealth Games champion Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda who will also be representing his country in the event.

During the 2017 World Cross Country Championships held in Kampala, Cheptegei gave Kamworor a big scare before the Ugandan suffered dehydration in the last two kilometres and slowed down.

“It will be tricky affair given that Cheptegei will be competing with me in the senior men’s race. So far Cheptegei has been my main challenger, but someone else could come up to challenge for the title. Cheptegei particularly has been in good shape recently, and I have to do my homework well so as to retain my title,” said the soft-spoken athlete.