It’s the most prestigious annual athletics event held in Kenya and boy was I glad to have a front row seat at this year’s competition.

On the mid morning of Saturday 20th April, I arrived at Nyayo Stadium with camera batteries charged and memory cards cleared to capture as much as I could. This was the first time I was shooting at an athletics event since Kenya’s Olympic Trials in 2012.

Triple Jump Men

This was a National event and the first one I captured for the day. Isaac Kirwa finished tops after leaping 15.95m.

Javelin Throw

This is the first time I was meeting Kenyan Champ Julius Yego. In case you didn’t know, he trained himself by watching YouTube videos and went on to emerge tops at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2015 World Champion and bagged a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics. He also holds the African Record with a 92.72m throw.

Hammer Throw Women

I placed my camera on the inside of the net at ground level and fired it remotely to get closer to the athletes.

10,000m Men

This was a National Event and the longest race of the day. Edwin Kipkemoi Seko finished first with a time of 28:30.43.

5,000m Men

High Jump Women

More Track Events

Steeplechase Men

Kenya has dominated this race for years. There was no change at the Absa Kip Keino Classic. I placed my camera next to the water jump and remotely triggered it for a closer perspective.

Steeplechase Women

The Weather and 100m Men

It’s rainy season in Nairobi and the rains have been heavy this year. They did hold up though until the last race of the day, the 100m Men’s dash, which was run during a good drizzle.

The race was won by Kenneth Bednarek of USA with 9.91, followed by Emmauel Matadi of Liberia with 9.99 and Jeremiah Azu of Great Britain with 10.00. Kenya’s favourite Ferdinand Omanyala finished fifth with 10.03.