Dec. 6 - The Manitoba Bisons track and field team has fostered a relationship with Kenyan athletes to assist them in their pursuit of furthering their education while participating in track and field training camps. The Bisons have already begun with an initial donation of sports shoes, running kits, T-shirts and tracksuits worth approximately $2,000 that have been collected by Bison track and field head coach Claude Berube and shipped to the Nandi district, which is in rural Kenya.

The Bisons are working in conjunction with secondary and primary schools in the South Nandi District in Kenya. The main objective will be to keep athletes in the school system and bring out their potential through sport activities. Initially, fourteen athletes have been selected to directly benefit from the first donation of track and equipment and to build a relationship between the South Nandi athletes and University of Manitoba track and field athletes.

Berube commented, “This is truly a great opportunity to extend a hand towards kids who can learn more about track and field, but more importantly continue their studies in school. This preliminary relationship can build towards a further communication between each other and can open the possibilities of exchange and potential recruits in the future.”

There are two projects that will be developed to nurture this relationship with the Kenyan athletes. Since Internet usage is very limited, communication will be available through cell phone text messaging. The Bisons are looking to partner with a cell phone company and request any unused cell phones to assist in this endeavour. Secondly, there will be three one-month track and field training camps in Kenya for to the 14 selected athletes, starting in April 2006. The training camps will run in April, August and December each year. Only $1500 is needed to be raised to include all 14 Kenyan athletes to participate in one year of track and field training. The Bisons will be looking to local sponsors to assist with this initiative.

As was done earlier in the fall, the Bison track and field team will ship a second package of track and field equipment to Kenya in the New Year.

The donation was a result of a request from the Terik people of western Kenya through the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Researchers from the University of Manitoba are working in Kenya on projects related to arresting the spread of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Maritim Songok, a postdoctoral graduate student from the area, who is working in the department of medical microbiology at the University of Manitoba, discussed with Berube and Greg Gunter of Sport Manitoba, to put a plan of action in place and start dealing with some of the needs of this Kenyan community.