The fifth edition of Eldoret City Marathon has been postponed to October 1, this year, the race director Moses Tanui said on Tuesday.
The race had been scheduled for June 25. Tanui, a double Boston Marathon winner, announced that the 2023 edition was rescheduled to October following technical challenges.
Tanui said the new date will give organisers and sponsors time to prepare for the marathon, which will be run on a changed course.
He said registration of athletes for the October 1 race will commence next week, with a bigger number of participants expected this year.
"Eldoret City Marathon is a young marathon and is still overcoming a number of challenges. We are now ready to run the marathon on October 1," Tanui said during a press briefing at the Eldoret Sports Club.
"We have good sponsors coming in to support the race. I urge Kenyans to be part of the building of the marathon because this is a race that will outlive us (the organizers), just like the Boston Marathon which is 127 years old."
The race director apologised to athletes and sponsors for the delays and asked them to be prepared for a more competitive race this year.
This year's race, according to Tanui, will be run on a new course following the completion of the Eldoret bypass. Athletes will run on the new road before taking several turns in Eldoret town.
It had originally been set for April before it was pushed to June to give organisers time to engage a major sponsor.
"Our happiness is that this is the race that an athlete can borrow running shoes to come and participate in and ends up winning Sh3.5 million. A majority of the winners of this race have been athletes under 35 years of age.
"As a retired athlete, I want to give back to my younger colleagues who don't have managers and who are training on their own. I urge Kenyans to support this marathon," said Tanui.
He said the race's sponsors were determined to see a more electrifying Eldoret City Marathon this year.
Tanui said the Climate Action theme has not been affected by the postponement.
