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Athletics Kenya (AK), the governing body for track and field in the country, plans to hold a series of long- and middle-distance running competitions by early next year to scout untapped potential in North Eastern Province.

AK Chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said this is the first time a major athletic event will be held in the province. He said AK wants to raise athletics awareness in the region and hopes that some of the world's top athletes will come to help promote the sport.

To help the province achieve its full potential, AK has trained 15 coaches, Kiplagat said.

"We have been sending Kenyan teams to international championships, but it is disheartening that year after year, no one from the province participates -- even in national competitions," he told Sabahi.

Kiplagat said that until now, it had been difficult to find sponsorship to fund sports in the region. Several corporations, including National Bank of Kenya, Kenya Commercial Bank and Safaricom, have agreed to sponsor a series of competitions in the province, with the major event to be held in Wajir.

Dickens Olewe, a Nairobi-based sports analyst, told Sabahi that potential sponsors were previously hesitant to invest in the North Eastern Province because of projected negative returns on their money.

Private companies, which sponsor such events to market their brands and maximise their public exposure, found the region financially unattractive, ultimately impacting opportunities for events to be held in the region, he said.

"In past years, people avoided investing in properties and doing business in the region because of insecurity," he said. "Now, the region is relatively safe and we are witnessing corporations engaging in various forms of community responsibility, such as sponsoring education, supporting the health sector and now athletics."

"Athletics could be the next big thing in the province and corporate companies know they can gain from it," Olewe said.

Athletics Kenya expects to raise more than 30 million shillings ($375,000) for the month-long competitions. Kiplagat said prizes will be awarded in the 800-metre, 1,500-metre, 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races.

Kiplagat said many residents of the North Eastern Province used to associate athletics with the Rift Valley Province because their athletes have shone in national and international sports events.

But that attitude started to gradually change last October after a British national of Somali origin, Mo Farah, won a gold medal in the 5,000-metre event and silver in the 10,000-metre event at the World Athletic Championship in Daegu, South Korea. Kiplagat said Farah occasionally trains in Kenya and his achievement can be used to promote sports in the region.

Ammey Abdi Salah, a 25-year-old Garissa resident, said he never gave athletics much thought until last year. There were no sports personalities he could relate to and no inspiration to venture into the field, he said.

"I never imagined that a Somali would win gold," Salah, a Somali Kenyan, told Sabahi. This changed after Farah's feat. "I have been training on the track since January with my friends, who in previous years would have laughed off the thought. We realised we can make livings out of running," he said. "I am inspired."

North Eastern Province AK member Hassan Omar Abdullahi said a majority of the province's population is Somali-Kenyan, who have connections to Somalis worldwide, whose success may positively influence the region.

"In the next three or five years, it is our belief that athletics will be embraced in the region," he said.

Abdullahi said that even though a lack of proper training facilities and the region's high temperatures will prove challenging, this is an opportune time to raise sports awareness in the region, which is known for its hardy and enduring people.

John Muindi, an official at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, said the government takes sports seriously as a means of livelihood and pride for citizens.

He said sports are a viable option to spur the economy in the region, which depends heavily on animal husbandry, which has suffered from inconsistent weather patterns and disease. The region has seen its economic lifeblood, livestock, decimated by sporadic drought, and residents should venture into sports as another means of livelihood, Muindi said.

"It is a pity the region is discovering sports late, but it can play catch up with others, especially in Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces, which have made great strides in sports," he told Sabahi.