Get ready for a tougher First Lady’s Half Marathon

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta trains for this year’s Half Marathon in Nyeri last month. This year’s edition will be held on March 8. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By  AYUMBA AYODI

What you need to know:

  • The 21km race will start at 7am opposite Nakumatt along Uhuru Highway before the contestants head to Haile Sellasie roundabout on to Ngong Road past Railway Club.
  • The 10km runners will take the same route but instead of coming to Mombasa Road, they will take the Aerodrome Road on to the arena for the finish.
  • First Lady Margaret Kenyatta intends to raise Sh600m through her Beyond Zero campaign. About Sh200m was realised during the inaugural race whose initiative is to help reduce cases of mother and child mortality cases at birth.

It’s now bigger and tougher. The 2015 First Lady’s Half Marathon set for March 8 has a challenging course for the thousands of runners expected to participate.

The race will start at Nakumatt Mega on Uhuru Highway and end at the Nyayo National Stadium arena, unlike the inaugural race that started and ended at the Uhuru Gardens.

Athletics Kenya vice president David Okeyo said the event will also draw wheelchair and tricycle participants.

Also Read

The 21km race will start at 7am opposite Nakumatt along Uhuru Highway before the contestants head to Haile Sellasie roundabout on to Ngong Road past Railway Club.

The runners will then head down to Cathedral Road past Community up to the City Mortuary round-about before hitting Mbagathi Way on to Lang’ata Road roundabout.

They will then race down to the Nyayo National Stadium round-about before hitting Mombasa Road. They will make a turn at Sameer Business Park Centre to Nyayo Stadium roundabout then Aerodrome road before entering the Nyayo National Stadium arena for the finish.

The 10km runners will take the same route but instead of coming to Mombasa Road, they will take the Aerodrome Road on to the arena for the finish.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta intends to raise Sh600m through her Beyond Zero campaign. About Sh200m was realised during the inaugural race whose initiative is to help reduce cases of mother and child mortality cases at birth.

“The registration deadline for the event at the centres has been brought forward from March 6 so as to enable the local organising committee deal with the logistics challenges,” said Okeyo during a press briefing yesterday at the Nyayo National Stadium. However, Okeyo noted that online registration will go on until March 6.

Winners in the 21km race will pocket Sh750,000, up from Sh500,000. Runners up will get Sh500,000 each and third-placed Sh250,000 each.

In the headlines