NAIROBI, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Excitement and sorrow griped athletes as Kenya named 30 runners for the Africa Cross Country Championships in Chelf, Algeria on March 17.
Africa 10,000m champion Alice Aprot was the main causality to fail to make the team while World Cross Country champion Geoffrey Kamworor and Stacy Ndiwa were triumphant in the national cross country championships held in Nairobi.
"I had high hopes, but I must take these results with a lot of pain," said Aprot, who finished eighth in a tough senior women's race and out of contention for a slot in Kenya team.
"I will bounce back. For now I must focus on training hard and focus on the Commonwealth Games in April," she added.
However, there will be no slot for Kamworor in the Kenya team, as he is preparing for the World Half Marathon, which will be held in Valencia, Spain on March 24.
Kamworor retained his national title in the men's 10km race clocking 28:32, ahead of Alfred Barkach (28:42) and Michael Ndirangu (28:49).
Emmanuel Bor (28:53) was fourth while John Chepkwony (28:53) and Joseph Bett (28:58) followed suit to claim the sixth places to the Africa cross country event.
In the senior women's race, Ndiwa triumphed in 32:15 beating closest rival Sandrafelis Chebet (32:17) and Celiphine Chespol (32:24).
Margaret Chelimo clocked 32:30.3 to finish ahead of Perin Nengampi (32:43) and Rosemary Njeri (32:51).
"I have to improve on my finishing kick before going to Algeria, because the gap with Ethiopians will be narrow and I need to work on my speed," said Ndiwa.
The team will pitch camp in Embu for three weeks before heading out to Chelf.
