Otiato GuguyuOne, two, three, four and on the count of five hand over the baton must have been the words he barked at the athletes.
Because the bulky coach looked like a man who barks orders and expects them to be converted to action with promptness. The way he bulged out of his clothes and breathed into the whistle, or the way he overdressed for his role in shiny goggles and baseball cap.
He timed the four men as they ran round the track, shouted and whistled to get them going and literally counted down the clock to push them through gut wrenching targets.
King of Nairobi
The first thing you noticed is that sprinters are huge, muscular fellows the Greeks who invented the sports would have needed more material for their statues. And Ferdinand Omanyala stands out like a sore thumb amongst them, he is the largest.
Mr Omanyala has won the men’s 100 meters at the past two Absa KipKeino classics and came second in 2021, really dominating home ground. Since his record breaking bursts of runs Kenya can now claim fame in short races.
Nairobi which is considered the right altitude for short, explosive events like sprinting and jumping due to less air resistance, but up till Omanyala showed up, it remained just potential. His rise has coincided with Kenya getting the chance to host Africa’s only continental tourney where Mr Omnyala has established himself as the man to beat. Nairobi is an opportunity for new stories to be written, giving a chance to untapped talent to compete with local and global elite athletes at Gold level earning both prize money and world ranking points.
Like the three other runners who were training with Omanyala. The pack making the team of four that will run the relay race on April 20 at Kenya 30,000 Nyayo stadium took instructions from barking coach. They mocked the motions of running, one… two… three… four and passed the shiny stubs of the baton.
I could only recognize Omanyala who also looked larger than life on the green grass of Nyayo Stadium. You could tell by the movement’s that the simulation of exchanging the baton was not as seamless, as the barking coach would want. He kept them at it, training, putting in the work so that when you come to cheer them for the fifth edition of Absa KipKeino classic they will have attained a level of perfection.
Sports and corporate sponsorship
According tournament sponsors Absa Bank Kenya Consumer Banking Director Moses Muthui, it is these values of sports, the hard work put in before the eventual victory, stories of personal resilience overcoming challenges and dreaming of championship each day of training that they want their brand to be associated with.
The lender is putting in Kes40 million towards Athletics Kenya activities this year where Kes30 million will be direct sponsorship as title sponsors of the 2024 Absa KipKeino Classic Tour.
The remaining Kes10 million will be used as leverage amounts as well as in supporting other events in the Kenya athletics calendar, including the under 20 youth trials engagement, national trials series events and Sirikwa Classic which happened in February 2024.
“As Absa Bank Kenya we are very proud to be part of this journey of nurturing stars through the KipKeino Classic,” Mr Muthui said.
“This championship event provides a great opportunity for Kenyans to not only watch foreign stars in Kenya but to also celebrate our very own homegrown talents whose stories continue to inspire our commitment to this sport as we support and empower them in line with our purpose of empowering Africa’s tomorrow together, one story at a time. Their stories indeed matter.”
Will the real fans please stand up
Mr Muthui said having held the event for the fifth year, the organizers hope it will attract huge crowds given the sponsorship means entry will be free. The tournament also moves from Kasarani to Nyayo stadium which is logistically convenient at the heart of the capital. Kasarani which hosted the previous event is under renovation and Nyayo which is not in too bad a shape will instead offer 3,000 seats.
It had been years since I went into Nyayo stadium and I had to walk around it trying to trace its entry. When I asked the soja- a watchwoman, for direction she said just go until you get that thing of launching, meaning plaque.
When I turned the corner I realized I needed no direction, the front is self-evident, a glassy façade that holds the section where the stadium is covered from the sun. Once you enter the stadium from the dugout, the feeling of sixty thousand eyes grips you.
Rows and rows of lined seats stretch on either side in the country’s flag colours of black, red green. ON two corners multiple led lights stand blinking on floodlights as humongous marabou storks sail the clear blue skies.
The Nairobi Expressway speeds just above the brim of Nyayo Stadium where the name reads backward from where I sit. If I was a talented photographer, I would catch these runners break the speed barriers with the blur of cars racing on the Chinese motorway.
When the launch event begins with the national anthem that rose at the dais where, deputy speaker Gladys Boss Sholei, Absa’s Moses Muthui, Athletics Kenya President General Jackson Tuwei, journalists and influencers, the athletes on the track freeze still.
As all of them froze in the middle of the flag painted Nyayo National stadium I was pleasantly surprised the fervor of nationalism is still raw among athletes. They waited patiently even as the instrumental went to the second stanza, which I can bet, like half the country, most could barely sing along.
But then I remembered, this tune to the athletes was the sound of victory. One can imagine the thundering voices that will rise from a full stadium on April 20 when Absa Kip Keino classic will wreath this years champions.
“I work with crowds, I love crowds and I hope people will come out in large numbers,” Ferdinand Omanyala.
Record busters
Everyone here wishes the weather on April 20 will be as warm as it was today, but the track carries shiny wet patches as a memory of Nairobi rain.
Especially Mary Moraa Kenya’s 800 meters champion who is keen to break her super-fast record of 1:56 and possibly break Jarmila Kratochvilova's 41-year-old record. The 800m women will be a duel of the two world champions Nakaayi Halima from Uganda and Moraa who urged Kenya to turn up in large numbers to propel her to glory.
“Come cheer us, we need mafans kwa wingi. Uwanja iko open, ni free. Usikae kwa nyumba kuona kwa TV, kuja stadium, maybe unataka kusalamia Omanyala upige picha, ako hapa,” Moraa said.
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