Murang'a course to pick Kenya's continental cycling team

The Kenya Cycling Federation (KCF) is preparing to name the team for the 2026 Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) Road Championships in Kisumu from October 21 to 25, with an event in Murang'a set to guide the selection this weekend.

It is the third straight year Kenya has hosted the continental showpiece, after Eldoret in 2024 and Kwale in 2025.

Murang'a is a familiar proving ground for KCF. The federation ran national team trials there in the build-up to the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where riders collected points across a series and the highest scorers made the team.

The trials will feature elite men’s and women’s races over 85km and 65km respectively, as well as the Under-23 men’s 85km and women’s 65km races. Youth (boys and girls) will compete over 35km, while junior boys and girls will race over 40km.

Jackline Wairimu—the organiser of the trials, said the federation will select the top 10 riders in each category to form the national team.

“The selection event is open and free to all cyclists in the country who want to participate. We will be selecting the top 10 from each category, from the elite to the junior races, who will form our team for the African championships,” Wairimu said.

Wairimu also stated that they have conducted proper due diligence to ensure the course runs smoothly.

“We have already done recce of the course in preparation for race day to ensure everything runs smoothly. We have been working closely with the county government as well as traffic police to ensure rider safety on race day,” Wairimu stated.

Kisumu will bring more than 300 riders from over 30 countries across 15 categories, spanning junior, under-23 and elite fields for men and women.

The programme includes individual time trials, a mixed team relay and road races, with the women's elite and under-23 race over 122.2 kilometres on October 24 and the men's over 175.2 kilometres.

The record shows how far there is to go. Before Eldoret 2024, no Kenyan had finished on the podium or featured among the leading riders, and Kwale 2025 was another tough outing.

Eritrea swept the junior, under-23 and elite men's titles, with Merhawi Kudus winning the elite race, while Kenya had no top-10 finisher in the elite women's road race, where Kendra Tabu was best placed in 19th.

In the men's elite race, John Muchiri was 47th of 51 finishers. Kenya's best continental result remains Nancy Akinyi's bronze in the women's cross-country marathon at the 2019 African Games.

The sport is clearly growing. Government investment reached Sh400 million for Eldoret and Sh250 million for Kwale, where Sports CS Salim Mvurya promised gold medallists would become "millionaires" through boosted prize money.

KCF staged its first road national championships this year, and Kenya fielded six track cyclists at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

With home roads and a competitive selection process, Kenya has its best chance yet to make an impact. A podium would be historic, but a realistic target is more top-10 finishes.