NAIROBI, Kenya, April 27-Runners from East and Central Africa will be competing for a total prize kitty of 816,000 shillings is up for grabs at next month’s Mombasa International marathon.Event organiser Dimmy Kisalu said that he expects a much larger entry for the event which will also go through Mombasa Island on May 9th.
“Before, the race used to start at the north coast and then go through the city centre. This time we are going to go through Mombasa Island to give the residents there a treat,” said race organiser Dimmy Kisalu.
Athletics Kenya chairman Isaiah Kiplagat hopes that a jackpot will be introduced to award the winners of three of the four marathons currently held in Kenya.
“We are negotiating with sponsors of all the marathons so that in about two years we can come up with a jackpot where we award the winner of the three races will get the prize,” said Kiplagat who received an Sh800,000 sponsorship package from Safaricom.
“We are also requesting the sponsors to factor in the cost of doping in their sponsorship packages so that we can have clean races,” he added.
The winner in both men and women’s races stands to clinch Sh200,000 second gets Sh100,000 and third will receive Sh50,000.
Safaricom representative Francis Murabula said that Safaricom’s involvement is part of their strategy to promote sport as a lifestyle.
“Athletics and sport in general are a very special point of engagement for us (Safaricom) so that we can discover and nuture talent for the youth.
Registration for the marathon is taking place at the Mombasa Munincipal stadium with the deadline set for May 7th.
“We have not set a limit on the number of participants because we want as many runners as possible to take part,” said Kisalu.
