Cheptegei rues fatigue on Uganda’s colourful day

A fatigued Joshua Cheptegei and his team mulled opting out of the World Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, on Saturday but decided to hang in there for the team the the tri-colour with crested crane.
Speaking to this newspaper on Saturday, Cheptegei said the 10000m track race in which he shuttered Kenenisa Bekele’s long-standing world record was so exhaustive and together with the manager had considered not taking part in the Poland event.
“The 10000m race was brutal. I had just prepared for it and not the half-marathon, but I thought about the team and my country. I thought about the yellow vest; I wanted to represent my country,” he said.
“I discussed with my coach. The team needed morale and support so my withdrawal would cost us a medal.”
Cheptegei took part in the 10000m event on October 7, 10 days to the Saturday road race. 
On his debut 21km race, Cheptegei was bidding to become only the second man after Moroccan Khalid Skah to win global titles on the track, road and cross-country in the modern era and he led through the 10km stage at 28min 23sec.
But he lost touch with the race leaders after the 15km mark before he fought to finish in a respectable fourth place in 59min, 21sec at the Baltic Sea.
“I couldn’t give more than that,” Cheptegei told World Athletics. 
“I have been training more for 5000m and 10000m so I was not well prepared for it, but I’m very happy – running a sub-60 is really special for me. My body was really going very well but I discovered I still had some fatigue in the legs.”
Cheptegei had looked comfortable until the 17km stage when Kiplimo and eventual silver medalist Kenyan Kandie Kibiwott began to peel away. 
“Joshua was missing the endurance and he told me that the body was still a little tired from Valencia,” his coach Addy Ruiter told this paper. “This is sport and it shows that Joshua is human. He takes his loss with dignity.”
‘I took advantage’
Shortly after the race, Team Uganda – draped in the national flag – converged to celebrate. Speaking in Kupsabiny, Kiplimo joked to Cheptegei: “Those people (athletes) were watching you throughout and I took advantage of that.”
With the season now ended, the athletes have all the time to recover and prepare for the Tokyo Olympics.
The ladies, led by Juliet Chekwel, who broke her own national record in1hr 8min 44sec for a 14th place, missed out on the team medal in fourth but pocketed $7,500 (Shs28m) in prize money.
Adding Kiplimo and Cheptegei’s individual prize money, Ugandans scooped a combined $53,500 (Shs199m) in their best ever show in the championship.
“Our performance was great. I must say they all did their part,” said coach Benjamin Njia. “We have demonstrated to that Uganda has become a powerhouse in long-distance running.” 
Uganda’s only previous medal had been a men’s team bronze spurred by Wilson Busienei’s fourth place finish in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2006.
[email protected]