Kenya will host its national championships as part of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) permit meeting for Africa on February 16,2013.The event, which will also be used to select a team to represent Kenya at the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgozcsc, Poland in March, will have athletes from at least 10 countries.  Isaiah Kiplagat, Athletics Kenya President, said they have signed contractual agreement with the country’s biggest financial institution, KenyaCommercial Bank (KCB) to sponsor the event, which will see winners pocket 2,500 U.S. dollars. "Lack of funds have made it hard for us to hold up the standards for this event. This is the only permit meeting in Africa sanctioned by the IAAF and we need to attract at least five countries alongside the galaxy of Kenyan stars,” Kiplagat told journalists in Nairobi on Tuesday. "For the time being, we want to limit it to Africa countries, but we will also consider other athletes who make use of the Kenya training facilities to compete here.”Already Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Djibouti and Mozambique athletes have confirmed participation.David Okeyo, the AK secretary general said top athletes like double Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah of Britain, several Bahraini and Qatari athletes residing in the country will also be given the green light to compete in the permit meeting, equivalent to the lucrative Diamond League in the track and field series. Kenya has launched her preparation to defend both the individual and team titles at the World cross country championships and will hold several events across the country to gauge the runners’ preparedness. KCB is sponsoring the series to a tune of 125,000 dollars. "The prize money for permit meeting might increase depending on how many more sponsors we get. But for now 2,500 dollars is the minimum IAAF has set,” said Okeyo.Kenya won seven out of the eight gold medals on offer in Punta Umbria in 2011 and faces a hard task to defend it, with Ethiopia, USA and Eritrea set to offer the formidable opposition."After below par performance at the London Olympics, there must be a change of operations and we will start with the World cross country. Then we will focus on the World championships, in Moscow, Russia in September,” said Okeyo. Xinhua