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Toby Tanser (right), the founder and CEO of the Shoe4Africa charity, joins Janeth Jepkosgei, Kenya’s former World 800m champion and Martin Lel, the three-time London Marathon champion, in a jig with residents of Kimngeru village in Nandi Central District during the opening of Martin Lel Primary School on January 15, 2011. PHOTO/ FILE | NATION

What you need to know:

Top runners’ shoes to be auctioned after race as Iten hosts annual all-women competition on Saturday

A bonus of $1,000 (Sh83,000) will be on offer for a course record at this year’s Shoe4Africa women’s five-kilometre road race that will be held in Iten on Saturday.

The annual race will see the winner pocket $500 (Sh41,500), second finisher get $300 (Sh24,900) while the third-placed athlete will take home $200 (Sh16,600).

“There will be cash prizes down to the 12th position with the fourth to 12th finishers getting $100 (Sh8,300) each,” Shoe4Africa founder and chief executive, Toby Tanser, said yesterday.

The race will start at 9.00am.

“The course record bonus this year is $1,000. It was $500 last year but no one claimed it, so this year I am adding another $500 to the pot,” Tanser added.

Helena Kirop holds the Shoe4Africa Iten race’s course record at 16 minutes, 33.7 seconds.

“A further $500 is on offer for the first runner who has never travelled outside Kenya,” Tanser said.

Entry is free and all runners will receive a free Shoe4Africa T-shirt that must be worn in the race to be eligible for the above prize monies.

Shoes to be auctioned

There will be running shoes - used by top Kenyan athletes - auctioned after the race.

They include shoes worn by Helena Kirop (Berlin and Dubai Marathons podium and national team member); Rose Kosgei (2010 World Junior Cross Country Champion), Alice Timbilil (2010 Double Olympian); Janet Kisa (National Junior Cross Country Champion) and Pauline Atodonyang (Lausanne Marathon Champion).

Shoes belonging to Sylvia Kibet, the World Championships 5,000m silver medallist, will also be up for auction.

The Shoe4Africa charity raises funds to help the poor in Africa and currently, the organisation is raising money to build a children’s hospital in Eldoret.

Some of the leading celebrities that have contributed to the charity include Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo and Formula One driver Felippe Massa.

Elsewhere, Trevor Barry, the bronze medallist in the High Jump at the World Championships in Daegu, was named The Bahamas Athlete of the Year at a ceremony last weekend.

Since 1999 the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations has held an End of The Year Awards celebrations. On Sunday at the Sheraton Cable Beach Hotel, the top award, named after world class High Jumper Charlie Major from the 1920s, was presented to Barry, another high jumper.

Barry, with a best of 2.29m when he arrived in the Korean city, improved his career best to 2.32m in the Daegu final.