After serving as Athletics Kenya (AK) secretary for Nyandarua uninterrupted for 37 years, Lawrence Miano is finally ready to step aside and pave the way for new leadership when elections are held—a rare and unprecedented move in Kenyan athletics administration.

Unprecedented because it is uncommon for officials in athletics to voluntarily relinquish their positions.

“I want to hand over to new blood. I will only remain in office if there is no one interested, as was the case in the past when I was elected in absentia,” Miano said.

Miano was elected secretary of AK, then known as the Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA), for Nyandarua in 1988, a year after joining the Nyahururu Municipal Council as a sports officer.

At the time, Nyahururu, now under Laikipia County following devolution, was part of Nyandarua County Council.

Others elected alongside him in 1988 were Kiragu as chairman and the late Stephen Mucheru as treasurer.

Mucheru is credited with discovering the athletic talent of John Ngugi, who went on to win five World Cross Country titles.

Miano’s passion for athletics began in 1972 at Kiarithaini High School in Mathira, Nyeri, where he represented the school in the one-mile race, now known as the 1500 metres.

The same year he was elected Nyandarua secretary, he also secured another position—national assistant organising secretary for the Kenya Inter-Municipalities Sports and Cultural Association (KIMSCA).

“I used that position to successfully lobby for the East Africa Local Authorities Sports and Cultural Association Games to be held in Nyahururu,” he said.

During his tenure as Nyandarua secretary, Miano undertook training in various athletics fields. In 1982, he trained as a coach under a programme led by renowned German international road race organiser, coach, and elite athletes’ manager Walter Abmayr.

Abmayr, who passed away last year, had an illustrious career as a national coach in Nigeria, Ghana, and later Kenya, where he served as the national athletics head coach from 1980 to 1985.

In 1984, Miano completed a senior sports management course at USIU.

He was not one to hoard knowledge.

After acquiring expertise through these trainings, he organised various courses in Nyahururu for aspiring coaches. This initiative saw Nyandarua’s Francis Kamau “Mfae,” Ibrahim Kinuthia, Francis Kamau “Esmi,” and William Ng’ang’a “Fabisch” earn their coaching certificates after being trained and tested by Francis Nyatome, Peter Mathu, and Dan Muchoki.

“We also organised coaching and officiating trainings for teachers in Nyandarua over the years,” Miano said.

As he prepares to hand over the mantle, Miano takes pride in a key achievement—successfully lobbying alongside the late Mucheru in 1988 for the Nyandarua County Council to allocate funding for athletics activities.

This budgetary allocation has remained intact even as the county council transitioned into a county government.

Nyandarua remains the only county in the Central AK region that provides financial support for athletics.

Miano, who retired from the Municipal Council about 15 years ago, says the biggest challenge during his tenure has been seeing talented athletes from Nyandarua move to Japan, where he feels their running careers stagnate.