Undoubtedly, the election of the new president of the Athletics Federation of Kazakhstan was the main event for our sport in the past months.

On 16^th of March, Danial Akhmetov and Adilbek Dzhaksybekov have changed the positions in the Federation’s governing system.

Two of these people have played and still play a key role in creating not only the Club, but also in the "revival" of athletics as one of the main sports in the Republic.

The vivid confirmation of this is the construction of the track and field arenas in  Almaty and Astana and projects of similar facilities in other regions.

Meanwhile, for the Club's athletes, March is the base of preparation for the track season. For this reason, all the athletes spent the whole month in training camps.

Olga Rypakova, on her return from Thailand, concentrated on training in her wonderful arena in Oeskemen and is preparing to leave for Turkey.

Varvara Nazarova again went to trainer Voinov A. in Bangkok, for a two-week training camp.

We (the management of the Club) are anxious to see our young and promising athletes participating on the international events of the IAAF.

For the reason above, Nadezhda Dubovitskaya and her personal coach Ivan Khizhnyakov went to a two-week training camp in Switzerland to the Club’s partner base. The camp is held under the direction of Werner Dietrich - "the father of the Swiss athletics miracle", that's how the Swiss press calls him.

Separately, I note that this coach has become a part of our Club thanks to cooperation with VfG/LCZ, and this is the merit of our General Manager Guido Tognoni.

We unambiguously associate this year with great hopes with the abovementioned specialist in improving the technical qualities of our athletes.

Sincerely speaking, the training process with such coaches adds more chances for us to register our Kazakhstani athletes for international events, mostly because of their recognizability among the organizers of the competitions.

As already known, only Olga Rypakova takes part in such events. And one of the Club's tasks is to increase the number of Kazakhstani athletes in the IAAF series.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan Group of the Club held a two-week training camp in Iten, in the so-called "Town of Champions", during 14 days of very intensive work at an altitude of 2,400 meters above sea level, the athletes were training over the following distances:

Norah Jeruto - 320 km = 1824 minutes.

Caroline Kipkirui - 399 km = 1912 minutes.

Daisy Jepkemei - 320 km = 1824 minutes.

Shadrak Koech - 355 km = 1827 minutes.

Impressed? I am  - certainly.

At the same time, after returning from the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, where our sprinters Sveta Golendova, Elina Mikhina and Mikhail Litvin got invaluable personal experience, they together with Aigerim Shynazbekova, Victoria Zyabkina, Irina Ektova and Arthur Gafner went within the national team of the Republic of Kazakhstan for training camps to Turkey, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan.

On a daily basis, the management of the Club monitors the work done by athletes.

Ahead is April, and this means:

 - Golden IAAF Half Marathon in Prague, where Caroline Kipkirui will try to win this prestigious event;

- technical practice for Norah Jeruto, Daisy Jepkemei and their coach Kenneth Rotich at the sports center of the Swiss Olympic team in Tenero near the city of Lugano, led by the steeple coach Michi Rüegg;

- technical practice for Artur Gafner and one of the young trainers from our region in Europe;

- Training camp for sprinters under the supervision of Western specialists.

To conclude, without false modesty, but on the contrary, I will proudly say: in the Rift Valley Province in Kenya, on the territory of the Kerio View Park Nature complex, by the Club's athletes was planted a tree. It is a small but very symbolic sign for us and respect for the Kenyan groups of athletes. This tree is adjacent to the "agrarian works" of the national teams of Germany, Italy and Belgium. It's nice when the name of your country is drawn far beyond its borders, and it is on the level of the major European sports powers.

Wishing Spring mood to everyone!