The two South Sudanese athletes have flown to Ethiopia for the 2022 East African Cross-Country Championships.

Marko Piyien Macho and Jacob Chol Atang are expected to participate in 10 kilometres and 8 kilometres, respectively, in this year’s Ethiopia East African Cross-country.

Speaking during the press conference before they left for Addis, South Sudan’s Secretary-General for Athletics, Marco Akol Deng, said the two are expected to participate in 10 kilometres and 8 kilometres.

“It is good news for us as a federation. We are sending our two athletes to participate in this year’s East African Cross-County championship, “he said.

Akol said Macho and Atang will participate in 20 kilometres and will be headed by their head coach, Simon Barnaba.

He called on the two athletes to try their level best to raise the flag of the country high and urged the fans to support the two boys.

The Eastern Africa Cross Country Championships is an international cross-country running competition between the nations of East Africa, organised by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA).

It is typically held over one day in February and features a senior and junior race for both men and women.

All four races contain an individual and team competition. Senior short course races were also held during the period where that event was present at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

The competition was hosted by the Jan Meda International Cross Country in 2004 and 2009. The 2013 edition was due to be held in Uganda but was cancelled due to concerns around the 2013 Kenyan general election.

It is one of three regional cross-country championships organised by the CAA, alongside the North and African Southern Region Cross Country Championships.