World U-18 athletics championships
- 12th – 16th July 2017
- Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya is ready to host the world U-18 Athletics Championship slated for 12th – 16th July 2017 in Nairobi.
Engineering works at the Moi International Sports Center in Kasarani are expected to be ready by Thursday.
This will be followed by the installation of the tartan track.
New tartan track material is already in the country at the Mombasa port and the installation will last for 14 days.
Mwangi Muthee, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Chief Executive Officer noted that preparations have progressed for the better well in time ahead of the championships held every after two years.
Muthee, as quoted by Citizen media remarked;
Mondo the official IAAF partners are going to use the same technology they used at the Barcelona Olympics stadium in 1992 where they were not supposed to remove everything.
The survey has been done and the realization is that the work done by the Chinese in the foundation is great.
The drainage all round the stadium is also good so we made a lot of saving
Design:
The stadium will have two stations each for the pole vault and shot put as recommended by the IAAF.
In effect, the steeplechase water jump had to be moved just a bit outside, changing the whole stadium set up as it eyes the class 1 classification.
“We cannot hold the event if our tartan track is not accredited. One of the key areas that the accreditation engineers will be looking out for is the water logging; how water drains and how long it takes to drown in case it rains,” Muthee added.
Tickets:
The tickets hit the market effective Friday for $1.94 and $9.68 for ordinary and VIP sections.
Mwangi revealed that plans to give out free tickets to school going children.
“Once we officially launch the ticket sale we are going to give 50 tickets for school going children who will plant 50 trees as an institution as part of the Green Belt Movement which was founded by the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.
“They will pick a day of their choice where they will come and witness the historical event. I urge the public to turn up in large numbers and show the world the beauty of the country and the kindness of its people,” Mwangi said.
At least 130 countries including Uganda have already confirmed participation at the four-day global showpiece.