Rwandan athletics head for the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland hoping to claim a share of $280,000(Frws 152,422,200m) at stake in cash prize for the winners. One of the athletes, Sylvain Rukundo, the youngest member on the team told Times Sport before that his target and that of the rest of his mates is to finish top six finishers. It is not easy securing the best position especially in this championship but we shall try our best, said the youngster who is eager to put on a better performance in this year’s event. The winner in the male and female senior category will walk away with up to $30,000 while the sixth finisher in each category gets $3000. In team contests, the winning team in each category takes home $20,000 in cash prize and the team that finishes sixth takes $4000. The Rwandan team left Kigali yesterday afternoon for Scotland Kenya Airways but minus UK visas. However, head coach Adolph Rukenkanya who talked to Times Sport before departure said that they had got assurance forms of obtaining visas once in Nairobi. An official at the Rwandan embassy in Uganda who didn’t wish his identity to be revealed told Times Sport yesterday by telephone that arrangements have been made for the athletes to find their visas in Nairobi. The team which was initially to fly out on Thursday had not secured visas from the British embassy to enable their flight thus postponing it to Friday (yesterday). In last year’s World Cross Country championship that was held in Mombasa, Disi and Nyiransabimana topped Rwanda’s charts after finishing 22nd and 31st in the male and female categories respectively.Ends
