Preparations
When Athletics Kenya (AK, the national governing body of Athletics) applied for the event, it used the slogan "Cross Country Comes Home", referring to Kenyan and East African traditional dominance at the event. Nevertheless, no formidable Kenyan runners are known to come from Kenyan Coast Province. Instead, successful Kenyan runners typically represent Kalenjin tribes who reside in western Kenya, approximately 700-800 kilometres from Mombasa. AK chose Mombasa as a venue due to better infrastructure (such as hotels) compared to other cities. The 2007 World Cross Country Championships is one of the biggest international athletics event held in Kenya since the 1987 All-Africa Games, held 20 years ago in Nairobi. Another event held in Kenya was the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
Other applicants for the event were Miami in the United States and Madrid in Spain, both withdrew their candidature before final vote. The World Cross Country Championships have been held in Africa three times before. In 1975 and 1998 it was held in Morocco, the 1996 event took place in South Africa.
There was also an IAAF Council meeting held in Mombasa, at which the host cities for 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Championships in Athletics were selected.
Read more about this topic: 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships
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