Sigh of relief in Iten as historic Kamariny Stadium gets minor renovations

Athletes from Elgeyo Marakwet County can now breathe a huge sigh of relief after the controversial Kamariny Stadium in Iten was the subject of small renovations made in a bid to improve the stalled project.

The state of the stadium had been long thrown into a limbo and a visible sorry state after renovation works that started as far as 2017 failed to get completed, leaving athletes, who have in the past used it for training, to travel 15km to the Tambach Teachers Training College track.

Others had travel to Eldoret's Kipchoge Keino Stadium or the Lorna Kiplagat Sports Academy Stadium which is not free.

However, athletes from the county that has produced world beaters - among them the women's world marathon record holder, Brigid Kosgei, Mary Keitany, long distance athlete Sylvia Kibet, former Berlin Marathon champion Florence Kiplagat and London Marathon champion Joyciline Jepkosgei among others - have now been handed a shot in the arm after the track was recently graded, rolled, and watered by the Elgeyo Marakwet County Government.

“Our athletes can now train at Kamariny Field following the intervention by my administration to improve the track which was in a bad shape works to improve the track into tartan stalled,” Elgeyo-Marakwet Governor Wisely Rotich posted.

“More than 2,000 athletes train here. Some of the world records broken are traced to this great stadium. The field was graded and rolled today. It was also watered to reduce dust. Routine maintenance at the field will continue. I was joined by Roads CeC Emmy Kosgey and her sports counterparts Purity Koima,” he added.

Before the renovations started in 2017, the stadium had a murram surface. The contractor, who had been awarded the tender to renovate the facility, excavated and leveled the field and the track, but was ordered to leave before he could start building the VIP pavilion.

The Kamariny Stadium was to be refurbished to a tune of Sh287 million in 2017 and the works included football pitch, laying of a tartan track, VIP pavilion and changing rooms.

In September 2020, Elgeyo Marakwet County’s development coordination committee suspended the works after the Funan Contractor failed to meet the set date they had agreed on with Sports Kenya.

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The contractor was then ordered to vacate the facility for failing to live up to the expectations and since then nothing had been ongoing in the site.