Arereng Kenneth Kent
Ugandan long-distance runner and three-time world 10,000 champion Joshua Cheptegei has appealed for more government funding in the field of athletics.
The 30-year-old decorated athlete made this appeal on Tuesday September 22, 2026, as Uganda Athletics received the team that had participated at the 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark (19 and 20 September 2026)
At a welcome ceremony held at the federation’s offices, Cheptegei reminded government that athletics is a golden sport for the country, thereby calling for more funding.
“We are indeed overjoyed by the team’s performance in Copenhagen. We request Government to fund athletics because it is underfunded. Imagine we didn’t have a residential camp,”Cheptegei noted.
Joshua, who led the team placed third in the half marathon in Denmark with a new personal best time of 58:26. He had just transitioned from track to road running.
Uganda finished 4th overall out of 21 countries that took part in the race that had Men and Women. The country was represented by 16 athletes who took part in, One Mile, 5kilometre and half marathon categories respectively.
