World Cross Country: No gain without pay

PIC: State minister Charles Bakkabulindi (second from right) inspected Kololo, the venue of Sunday's global event. Deputy director technical, Paul Okello (in gumboots), ​event director Aggrey Kagonyera  (in cream coat) and local Organising committee secretary Beatrice Ayikoru briefed him on the preparations. (Credit: Norman Katende)

Did you know that watching the IAAF World Cross Country Championships will come at a price?

It's a valid question since the general perception may be that entrance to the Kololo Independence Grounds for the highly-anticipated Sunday event will be free, as is the norm with locally-held athletics events.

This time though, members of the public wanting to experience the thrill of world-class competition firsthand will have to part with sh10, 000 or sh50, 000 for a seat in the pavilion.

Tickets are on sale at Shell Select shops at Lugogo, Kiira Road, Bugolobi, Capital, Entebbe and Wandegeya.

Uganda has a long athletics heritage, marked by landmark achievements like John Aki-bua's gold at the 1975 Munich Olympics and Stephen Kiprotich's historic back-to-back Olympics and World Championships marathon gold in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

In other words, the cross country championships should have no shortage of interested attendants from the public. But it remains to be seen how they will respond to an entrance fee that is basically a Ugandan first.

Meanwhile, there will also be a mass race; open to the public but restricted to 300 people. Registration for this 4km race is sh40, 000.