Ayeko beats Soi to Atrim cross country

By Norman Katende

Atrim Cross Country

Men 10km results

1 Thomas Ayeko (UGA) 31.27
2 Edwin Soi (KEN) 31:40
3 Jonathan Ndiku (KEN) 32:25

Uganda's Thomas Ayeko opened up his season account by beating experienced Kenyan Edwin Soi to Saturday's IAAF Antrim Cross Country International event in Northern Ireland, the last event on the international cross country calendar before the World Cross country championships.

The World event is due in Guiyang, China in a fortnight's time though Ayeko is not part of Team Uganda as he never took part in the selections held in Jinja last month and neither had he taken part in any other cross country event.

Ayeko, who had won the event two years ago and had been beaten by Japheth Korir last year, was in form, running a  cautious shoulder to shoulder race with Soi, until the last kilometre when he sprinted away from him, building a big margin before  coming home in a comfortable  31 minutes 27 seconds.

"I am very happy to return to Northern Ireland and win. This is a venue I love coming to and it is an honour to win here again. It was a good field and winning is a great feeling," Ayeko told international journalists after his 80m win.

Soi is a famous name on the international circuit, having won the 2008 Olympic Games 5000m bronze medal in Beijing, China while Ndiku is a former world junior 3000m steeplechase champion.