Athletics: 6th African Cross Country Championships: Hammamet, Tunisia |21 February 2024

Yannick Magnan will be attempting the 10km challenge (Photo: Seychelles Nation Archive)

Yannick Magnan and Tiphano Uranie on the starting line

Long-distance runners Yannick Magnan and Tiphano Uranie will represent the country at the 6th Africa Cross Country Championships which will take place in the town of Hammamet in Tunisia.

The two have been selected based on their good performances during the annual cross-country series hosted by the Seychelles Athletics Federation (SAF) last month at the Roche Caïman fitness trail.

At the event which will take place on February 25, Magnan will compete in the senior 10km category; while Uranie, who is still a junior athlete, will compete in the 8km category.

The championships will see the participation of the best athletes of the continent, notably from Kenya who will be represented by 30 athletes in a bid to hold on to its African title.

The participating countries are host Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Kenya, Angola, Ethiopia, Seychelles, Liberia, Congo, Cape Verde and Uganda.

The Fédération Tunisienne d'Athlétisme (FTA) will also organise on the fringes of these championships the national cross country finals for cadets (girls and boys) and for masters.

The African Cross Country Championships is a regional cross country running competition for athletes from Africa.

The competition had a one off edition in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the medalists were mostly from the host nation.

Following an announcement by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that the IAAF World Cross Country Championships would change to a biennial format, the Confederation of African Athletics stated that the 2011 African Cross Country Championships would be held in Cape Town, South Africa, marking a relaunch of the competition.

While all other continental regions defined by the IAAF have had their own regional cross country championships on an annual or biennial basis, Africa did not have a regular competition in this mould for a long period.

This may have been due to a number of factors including: the high status of annual cross country meetings such as the Kenya National Cross Country Championships and the Jan Meda International Cross Country (which doubles as the Ethiopian championships), the size of the region, the prominence of smaller regional championships, and the comparative lack of resources available to the Confederation of African Athletics.

Compiled by Roland Duval