LONDON –– Hey, Athletics Kenya, Wilson Kipsang has a message for you.

Nice try, suckers.

Just two weeks before Kipsang, world-record-holder Dennis Kimetto, and Geoffrey Mutai were to toe the line in a globally-anticipated showdown in the Virgin Money London Marathon, the brain trust (and we use that term loosely) at the country’s governing body for the sport suspended the runners’ manager, Gerard van de Veen, for six months.

Isaiah Kiplagat, AK’s chairman and CCO (chief corruption officer), held a press conference in Nairobi on April 13 to announce the suspension of van de Veen’s Volare Sports agency, along with that of Rosa Associati, which represents busted doper Rita Jeptoo, as the first step in its plan to address the recent spike in doping cases in the country.

It was, in reality, a thinly-veiled political move aimed squarely at Kipsang, the articulate president of the Professional Athletics Association of Kenya, a group that serves as sort of the runner’s union in the country and one that has been outspoken in the need for wholesale institutional changes within Athletics Kenya.

RESULTS: 2015 Virgin London Marathon

What better way to hurt Kipsang than by trying to throw him off his game ahead of one of his biggest races, one likely to generate close to half of his yearly income?

But like most of the incredulous bullets Athletics Kenya fires at targets other than itself, this one too missed the mark.

Kipsang competed far from preoccupied during the race. He was engaged at the front of proceedings from the start in Blackheath right around the final corner in front of Buckingham Palace 26.2 miles later.

The only thing to get to him on this day was former 5000m world champion Eliud Kipchoge, whose surge with 700 meters to go opened up what proved to be a five-second winning gap. Kipchoge earned his first London Marathon victory in 2:04:42 with Kipsang logging the fastest-ever runner-up finish in 2:04:47.

READ MORE: Kipchoge, Tufa Win London Marathon Titles

“I can really say that it wasn’t so much but I was almost distracted,” Kipsang told FloTrack. “The way Athletics Kenya said they wanted to take over the management was not fair to the athletes and not the way it should work. It’s not the way you want to approach the races, but it didn’t affect me so much. It didn’t affect me mentally. I didn’t lose focus so much.”

You shouldn’t be naïve enough to believe that a there is not a potential doping problem in Kenya. However one must look beyond this political gamesmanship to realize that an organization as inept as Athletic Kenya does not possess the ability to provide a resolution to the issue.

For his part, van de Veen advocates for clean sport. All of his athlete contracts contain a half-page clause terminating the contract if the athlete engages in intentional use of performance enhancers.

Two of his athletes have failed drug tests. Flomena Chepchirchir, for a substance found in an over-the-counter cough suppressant, and Lilian Jelegat, who tested positive for EPO after receiving a tainted injection from a doctor.

After receiving word of the suspension, van de Veen told Dutch media he suspected AK’s action was part of “a political game.”

“They grab foreign managers to show they are addressing the [doping] problem, but take it from me there is little happening in Kenya,” he said. “It seems to me, their world is upside down.”

WATCH: Wilson Kipsang - Second Place In London 'A Good Day For Me'

Kipsang agrees.

“You cannot ban a manager without some central evidence,” he said. “You need to investigate something, come up with a report and then ban. The issue of banning the manager and then saying you want to do an investigation is not good. I don’t support it.”

On April 5, 2005 world 5000m champion Benjamin Limo resigned his position as an athlete representative on the executive board of Athletics Kenya, telling Kenyan newspaper The Daily Standard, “I could not tolerate the poor leadership of AK. I should protect my name from being sucked into bad books.”

Limo added, “AK is not ready to fight doping, which is tainting the Kenyan athletes’ image.”

Like all things involving Kiplagat and Athletics Kenya, what you see is never what you get.

Since taking office in 1992, Kiplagat’s primary interest has been lining his own pockets. A recent investigation by The Daily Standard has uncovered a five-year paper trail detailing hundreds of thousands of dollars in withdrawals from Athletics Kenya’s bank accounts by Kiplagat, AK vice president David Okeyo and former treasurer Joseph Kinyua. Much of that money comes from AK’s 17-year sponsorship deal with Nike, signed in 2003.

In suspending van de Veen and the Rosas, Kiplagat declared the Athletics Kenya, and himself by extension, would be “working with the IAAF and meet promoters of the Diamond League and so forth to agree on the modalities of how we will manage these athletes.”

Put yourself, for a moment, in the shoes of an athlete like Kipsang, whose wins in the 2014 London and TCS New York City Marathons earned him six-figures in prize money as well as $500,000 for winning the Abbott World Marathon Majors title.

Realistically, at age 33 and with a limited number of major marathons (i.e. big paydays) left in your legs, would you trust Kiplagat and his cronies to dictate the course of your career or the livelihood of you and your family?

Hell no.

“If AK cannot properly manage 20 athletes in a national team, how will they manage 250 from Volare and Dr. Rosa?" Kipsang rightfully questioned.

We will likely never know whether these suspensions were a desperate move by Kiplagat to save face under the increasing glare of the international media or a final money grab out the door – Kiplagat has resigned his chairmanship at AK to run for the executive vice presidency of the IAAF.

Earlier in the week, Kipsang told the BBC that Athletics Kenya is “fighting with fire.”

By turning in yet another spectacular – and most importantly – clean performance, Kipsang not only delivered a retaliatory burn to Kiplagat and Athletics Kenya, but he also scorched the growing perception that Kenyan distance running at the highest level must be a dirty sport.

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