Cherono cautions upcoming athletes over rise in unscrupulous leaches

The 2019 Boston Marathon champion Lawrence Cherono has cautioned upcoming athletes to be on the watch out for unscrupulous individuals who are out to benefit from their sweat.

Cherono, while adding his voice in the growing calls to Athletics Kenya to stamp their authority over the rogue coaches and agents who exploit upcoming athletes observed that the current wave of rifts being reported in many athletes’ families was largely to be blamed on the predators and partly on the athletes for having multiple partners.

The Olympian who was speaking in consultative forum organized by the federation in Strawberg, Uasin Gishu County noted that the predators were spread all over and cautioned his colleagues to be on the watch out and to seek counsel whenever they face hurdles.

AK has been holding the meetings with athletes in various zones with an aim of understanding the issues that affect them.

 “There are people who want to always depend on wealth they didn’t work on and this is what has brought problems. Athletes should learn to be independent and stick to one person so that they won’t clash later due to wealth. I would like to urge upcoming athletes to always be ready to face many challenges including lack of training facilities because the industry is flooded and many people depend on themselves or their parents. You must know that to be an elite athlete you have to go through a lot of issues, said Cherono who advised athletes to seek assistance at the first instance of problems but to be wary of whom they reach out to.

The 2019 Strasbourg Half Marathon champion Janet Ruguru on her part raised the alarm over the safety of athletes’ security while training in Kaptagat forest.

“Kaptagat has always been the best place to train in and we have been training in the forest for a long time but what happened last month shocked many because an athlete was almost raped but we are happy she managed to rescue herself,” said Ruguru.

Although, the region has many scholarships, athletes asked AK to develop proper structures to shield athletes from conmen who may exploit the demand for these opportunities.

Responding to the concerns, AK executive member John Kimetto said the federation is now better informed on the issues affecting athletes thanks to the consultative forums.

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“We are in the third week and we have managed to get many issues resolved because the federation will have to act on some issues immediately while others will be looked into and forwarded to the Ministry of Sports,” said Kimetto.

The next session will be held in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County.