Kenya’s athletics chiefs alter calendar to accommodate international events

Nairobi, Sep 29 (IANS) Athletics officials in Kenya have announced major changes in their local schedule in order to accommodate seven major international and continental events that will take place during the 2017/2018 calendar of events.

Athletics Kenya (AK) Senior Vice-President in charge of competitions, Paul Mutwii, said the calendar of the track and field season will commence in early November 2017 away from the traditional March date and end in April 2018, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We were compelled to make the changes because the Commonwealth Games have been brought forward from the traditional month of August to April," he said on Thursday evening.

The second round will begin in May after the Commonwealth Games to pave the way for preparations for the Africa Senior Athletics Championships.

The international and continental events that Kenya will participate in include the World Indoor Championships scheduled for March 2018 in Birmingham, England, Africa Cross Country Championships to be held at Chlef in Algeria in March, and the World Half Marathon in Valencia, Spain (March 24).

The others are the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia (April 8-15), Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Delta State, Nigeria (August 1-5) and Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October 6-18, 2018.

Mutwii said during the first round of the season AK will only hold weekend meetings which will culminate with the trials to select athletes for the Commonwealth Games.

"During the first round of the season, we will not hold regional and national championships because we shall be holding track and field, and cross country weekend meetings concurrently," he remarked.

He said the second round of the season will begin with AK weekend meetings before going to the regions ahead of national championships-cum-trials.

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