NAIROBI, Kenya, October 23 – Former African silver medallist Irene Kipchumba will headline elite athletes at Sunday’s Nairobi International Marathon that has so far attracted 20,000 participants.
Event organisers expect the number to increase as they aim to hit 25,000 target by registration close on Friday.
“We are very pleased with the response. A look at the entries confirms the uniqueness of this event where it’s both a professional platform from which elite athletes aim to register IAAF-recognized timings and a social event that enables Kenyans to rally together for a noble cause,” Local Organising Committee chairman, Peter Gitau said.
Nairobi Police boss Benson Kibue assured participants of security and declared enough officers including paramilitary General Service Unit will be deployed for the 12th edition.
“We will have air surveillance to ensure we have full view of all marathoners and participants. We are all aware that we still have terrorist threats but we are fully prepared and we are not taking any chances.People should not be scared,” Kibue declared in a media briefing Thursday.
Most of the roads along the designated route will be closed on Sunday at 4am and re-open at 1pm including major city arteries; Mombasa Road, Lang’ata Road, Uhuru Highway, Upper Hill and Forest Road while within the Central Business District part of Haile Selassie and Kenyatta avenues as well as University Way will remain closed until 11:30am.
“We would like to assure Nairobi residents there will be alternative routes for all affected roads leading to major institutions in the city like hospitals, churches and airports,” Nairobi County Traffic Commander Peter Ndungu announced.
The event that will start just outside Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium along Uhuru Highway between Bunyala and Lusaka roundabouts will have see MicroChip timing introduced for both men and women 10km races.
In an attempt to stem cases of cheating as witnessed in the past races, organisers have separated the finishing points of the 21km half and 42km full marathon that will end inside the stadium.
