The lucrative Sotokoto Safari Marathon has partnered with Equity Bank to ease the registration process of participants and boost numbers.
Douglas Wakiihuri, the race’s chief executive officer, confirmed the new route, which will see the runners start off at the Lang’ata road outside the Uhuru Gardens head to Nyayo National Stadium and go back twice.
The race will be run on May 23. Wakiihuri, a former world marathon champion and Olympics silver medallist, said a prize of Sh1.2 million will be for grabs to the male and female winners. The awards will trickle down to the 10th-place finisher.
The event’s technical director, Robert Ouko, also announced an increase in distance for the children’s fun run to 6km, from last year’s 4km. “I think it was too short for the children and this time round we want to give them the real deal,” he said.
Equity will bank on its vast branch network countrywide. “We have over 120 branches and we will use them to register as many athletes and ordinary people as possible. It is a partnership that the bank is happy to support,” said Peter Njigua, Equity Bank’s marketing manager.
With only 1,000 people having confirmed their participation in the race, organisers were optimistic the 4,000 mark will be attained before the closure of registration on Tuesday.
Smooth flow
“We are capable of handling the 4,000 athletes. Organisers have made every plan possible to see that there is a smooth flow and all logistics are being done accordingly,” said Ouko.
Already, 16 international athletes have confirmed their participation and athletes from Japan, Lebanon, India, Australia, UK, USA, Italy and Uganda are expected to take part.
Former Safari Rally winner Kenjiro Shinozuka will be behind the wheel of the first solar-powered car that will be used as the lead vehicle during the event. The vehicle arrived in the country on Sunday.
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