Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
William Njuguna
29 November 2011
FIVE new awards have been added to the Athletics Kenya (AK) Gala Night slated for Friday at Ole Sereni Hotel as Kenya Pipeline Company donated Sh 1 million towards the event.
The organising committee chairman and AK treasurer Joseph Kinyua said the new awards will include outstanding determination, All time best, world record holder, impressive age transition and team effort award. In total, 20 awards will be up for grabs during the second AK gala night.
Kinyua said competition for the awards will be stiff after the country picked 38 gold medals in the major athletic events this year. ” We started with the Africa Cross Country Championships in Cape Town; World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain; African Junior Championships in Botswana; World Youth Championships in Lille, France; World Championships in Daegu, South Korea and the All Africa Games in Mozambique.”
“It’s going to be very competitive. A lot of athletes have done the country proud this year and we expect a fairly competitive event in all the categories,” added Kinyua. He said there will be an award for the AK affiliate members, whose athletes won more medals this year. “We want to bring competition to our affiliates so that they can spur the athletes from their regions to perform well,” he added.
Meanwhile, the gala received Sh1 million from Kenya Pipeline towards the Gala Night. Pipeline director Rukia Subow said the company is happy to be associated with athletics, considering their good performance over the years. “We are proud to be associates with AK and the athletes who have brought glory and honour to the country,” added Subow.
AK had earlier received Sh2 million boost from National Bank of Kenya towards the event. AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said they have a budget of Sh9 million for the gala but will have additional funding from their reserves. ” I can assure you we will raise the deficit of Sh6m from our reserves if we don’t get another sponsor by tomorrow,” Kiplagat said.
He thanked the sponsors and well wishers who have supported AK programme this year. “I would like to thank the sponsors who have invested in the athletic programmes this year and I urge others to come on board,” he added. Kiplagat asked Kenya Pipeline to come on board next year and sponsor some of their events.
AllAfrica – All the Time