The East and Central African Championships was an annual international

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

competition between nations in

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ...

. The event was established as the East African Championships in 1955, building upon of international athletics matches between

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

(first held in 1934), which had themselves expanded to include

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

in 1952. The competition remained between these countries (with

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

replacing Tanganyika after it merged with

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

) until 1969, at which point Tanzania's southern neighbour

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

was invited. Zambia became the first host outside of the founding three nations shortly after, with the 1971 championships being held in its capital Lusaka. More countries joined in the 1970s, including

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, and this was expanded again in the 1980s (including

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

). Somalia hosted the 1977 edition and the Egyptian capital

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

was the venue in 1982 and 1985.East and Central African Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-03-30. The championships had its final edition in 1990, with the absence of founding nation Kenya indicating the lack of support for its continuation. It had lasted for 32 editions from its inception, having been missed in the years 1962, 1966, 1978 and 1980.

Editions

Events

By the latter years of the championships, a total of 35

athletics events The sport of athletics is defined by the many events which make up its competition programmes. All events within the sport are forms of running, walking, jumping or throwing. These events are divided into the sub-sports of track and field, ro ...

had been regularly contested, 20 by men and 15 by women. ;Track running *

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, 400 metres,

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

, 3000 metres (women only), 5000 metres (men only),

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

(men only) ;Obstacle events *

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

(women only),

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hu ...

(men only),

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

, 3000 metres steeplechase (men only) ;Jumping events *

Pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

(men only), high jump,

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

(men only) ;Throwing events * Shot put,

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

(men only) ;Relays *

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

Events were contested over imperial distances up to 1968. A men's marathon was contested between 1968 and 1981, with the first race being held separately from the main championships. Combined events featured at the 1972 edition, with Uganda's Alex Ochen taking the honours in the men's decathlon and his compatriot Budesia Nyakecho doing so in the

women's pentathlon The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day (formerly two days). The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with t ...

. Men's

20 kilometres race walk The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic athletics event that is competed by both men and women. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight un ...

s were held between 1975 and 1981, with Ethiopians Hunde Ture (1975, 1979) and Shemsu Hassan (1981) winning these events. Women were present at the championships at least as early as 1967, with eleven women's events being contested that year. In 1970, a women's 1500 m and 4 × 400 m relay was added and the

80 metres hurdles 80 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling ran by women until 1972 in international competitions. Since the 1972 Summer Olympics, the event has been permanently replaced by the 100 metre hurdles. Masters athletics The distance, with different s ...

was replaced by the international standard 100 m distance. A 3000 m for women was first held in 1976 and a women's 400 m hurdles in 1979. A women's 5000 m was first held in 1986 (won by Kenya's Susan Sirma), though it is not known if this was contested in any of the other later editions.

Men's champions

Sprints

Distance events

Hurdling

Jumps

Throws

Relays

Marathon

*1968: (2:23:39†) *1969: (2:33:06A) *1970: (2:18:49A) *1971: (2:21:22A) *1972: (2:39:23) *1976: (2:13:25) *1977: (2:18:55) *1979: (2:22:13) *1981: (2:17:35)

Women's champions

Sprints

Distance events

* Women's 3000 m was not contested in 1986 and instead a women's 5000 m was held.

Hurdles and jumps

Throws

Relays

References

{{defunct athletics competitions Athletics competitions in Africa International athletics competitions Sport in East Africa Sport in Central Africa Recurring sporting events established in 1955 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1990 1955 establishments in the British Empire 1955 establishments in Africa 1990 disestablishments in Africa Defunct athletics competitions