StanChart Nairobi Marathon course altered
Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon Local Organising Committee chairman Peter Gitau (left), Athletics Kenya Head of Youth Development Barnabas Korir (centre) and legendary Paralympian Henry Wanyoike during a press briefing on October 5, 2017 in Nairobi. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |
What you need to know:
- The winners of the 42km race taking home Sh1.5million.
- Robert Kiplimo Kemboi and Jane Jelagat Seurey won last year’s men and women’s 42km races.
The venue of this year’s Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon has been moved to Railways Club from Nyayo Stadium, organisers announced on Thursday.
The move has been informed by the ongoing renovations at the Nyayo National Stadium which has seen the stadium closed down.
The stadium had been earmarked as one of the venues for the African Nations Championship (Chan), which Kenya was to host in January 2018, before Caf stripped the country of the hosting rights last month.
Following the changes, the course will be altered slightly as the runners will now have to cover more distance within the CBD to make up for the reduced distance on Uhuru Highway.
The changes have also seen the race date moved to November 26 instead of the initial date of October 29 due to the repeat presidential elections set to be held three days earlier.
“We had been optimistic that the ongoing repair works would be complete by end of October. However, following our visit to the stadium and consultations with the Stadia Management Board we have opted for an alternative venue,” the race's LOC chairman Peter Gitau said in a press briefing in Nairobi.
“It is not feasible to hold the event three days after the election date since the organisers require more than two weeks for securing and sprucing up the venues. The event venue is traditionally used by IEBC as a polling station and constituency tallying centre. This means we cannot set up the Kit Collection Expo while at the same time we cannot commence the route marking on time."
REGISTER ONLINE
Organisers are targeting 25,000 participants this year and hope to raise Sh45 million which will be channelled to the Seeing is Believing initiative.
Gitau said the registration for this year’s event will remain open till mid- November. All participants, individual and corporates, are required to register online through the official marathon website www.sc.com/ke/Nairobimarathon at a fee of Sh2,000.
As announced in July this year during the launch for the race’s 15th edition, prize money for the 21km (half marathon) race has been increased. The winner of the 21km category will take home Sh200,000 up from Sh150,000, first runners up will receive Sh150,000 up from Sh100,000 and second runners up Sh100,000 up from Sh50,000.
However, the prizes for the other categories will remain the same as last year with the winners of the 42km race taking home Sh1.5million. Robert Kiplimo Kemboi and Jane Jelagat Seurey won last year’s men and women’s 42km races.
