Alice Aprot during the National Cross Country Championship/Trials.PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 15 – African Cross Country champion Alice Aprot says her biggest ambition is to succeed on the track adding she wants to fit into the shoes of multiple world champion Vivian Cheruiyot who has now transited to road racing.
Aprot, the 2015 All Africa Games and 2016 Africa 10000m champion is looking onto the London IAAF World Championships in August where she hopes to double in the 5000m and 10000m.
“My main target is to double in London. Now that Vivian (Cheruiyot) is moving away from track, my big dream is to fill her shoes and run just like she has done for almost 20 years. I want to do both the 10000m and 5000m and win as many medals as she did. In London, I would like to do both but that will depend on how the trials will go,” Aprot told Capital Sport.
The 23-year old is hoping to bank on her experience from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August last year, where she finished fourth in a bullet pace 10000m race which saw Ethiopian Almaz Ayana break the world record while her idol Cheruiyot finished second.
“It was a great race and up to today, I don’t regret the tactics I employed. I was in a very fast race and I also wanted to get a good time for myself. I don’t regret failing to get a medal, but I am thankful for the experience I picked from there. It will push me moving forward,” she noted.
-Kampala World Cross-
Alice Aprot crossing the line to win the Ndalat Gaa Cross Country.
Aprot is part of Kenya’s team to the World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, Uganda on March 26 after finishing third in the National Championship February and she will be returning to familiar ground, having won her first African Cross Country title in Kampala in 2014.
However, she does not have much expectation of picking a medal in Kampala as she says her training has not been top notch having spent much of the past three months in training at the Kenya Prisons Service Training College.
“To be honest, I can’t say I will go to win in Kampala because I have not trained as well as I thought I should have. When I went to the trials, I was not even half in terms of fitness and I only wanted to ensure I make the team,” Aprot noted.
“I found it hard to balance the two; personal training and work training while I was at the Prisons College and that is what hindered by preparations for the year. However, as at now after weeks of training, my body is responding well and I want to go and do well,” Aprot, the 2016 Antrim and Compaccio International Cross Country meet champion noted.
She hopes however, she can pick inspiration from his elder brother Joseph Ebuya who is a 2010 World Cross Country champion. Aprot is also confident Kenya will win the team title after losing it during the last championships in Guiyang, China.
“We have quite a strong team this year. Everyone has been working hard in training and looking in shape. In the final week of training, we will fight hard to get to 100 percent shape so that we can have good results in Kampala,” she noted.
The Prisons Officer has also noted the team has been working hard to get used to the extra 2km added to the women’s course who will now run 10km.
“We have worked on endurance and speed because we have to change tact. Before, we were used to getting in the final kick at a specific moment but now, we have to look at it differently,” she added.
Aprot will be joined in the Kenyan team by reigning world champion Agnes Tirop, Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon, world 3000m steeplechase champion Hyvin Kiyeng, national champion Irene Cheptai and Lilian Kasait.
