On October 25, over 15,000 athletes are expected to vie for the top prize in the lucrative Standard Chartered Bank Nairobi International Marathon.
Participation in the annual race, which was started in 2003, has risen by 9.2 per cent from last year’s 12,800 athletes from 38 countries. The theme of this year’s race is “Run and be a hero in someone’s eye”. Standard Chartered Bank will spend over Sh7.5 million to sponsor the race, which will start outside the Nyayo National Stadium.
The men’s and women’s winners will each take home Sh1.5 million, the highest prize payment in local sports and probably the reason there has never been a successful title defence in the marathon’s past six editions.
Richard Etemesi, StanChart’s chief executive officer, reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to bankroll the event for the next three years. This comes at a time the banking industry is facing challenging times in the wake of the global economic crunch. “This race gives an opportunity to local athletes who are yet to develop their talent to test their ability and get fast times that can market them in future competitions,” said Etemesi. “The event has maintained a tradition where no champion has returned to [successfully] defend their crown.”
The event will have five races – the 42-kilometre full marathon, half marathon (21km), 10km, 5km family fun run and the wheelchair race.
With Kenya being the home of the top 60 marathoners in the world’s best 100, the Nairobi race is bidding to rival in stature and prize money to the big city marathons in London, Berlin, New York, Chicago or Boston.
The registration process started on Wednesday and individual runners will pay Sh1,000 while it will cost the family fun run participants Sh500. The City Council of Nairobi has meanwhile come under attack by the national athletics governing body for failing to support the event as is the custom in other marathons worldwide. The event is expected to highlight the city’s monuments, buildings and history.
“We need the Nairobi city council to be involved by spending part of its money to support this race. We are meant to run through its streets and therefore showcase [the city’s] beauty and diverse locations to attract tourism and improve its profile globally. But they [city council] have been reluctant to join us,” said Isaiah Kiplagat, the Athletics Kenya chairman.
Race director John Velzian said the route used last year, which was largely flat and fast, will be maintained.
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