Road race: Stars gear up for Kass marathon on Sunday
Athletics
By
Dennis Okeyo
| Nov 15, 2019
Athletes are polishing their gear in readiness of this year's Kass Marathon set for Sunday, in Eldoret.
The organisers have added 21km into the event that will start at Mosoriot shopping centre.
The 42km will begin at Kapsabet in Nandi, with 5km fun run will being flagged off in Eldoret town. All events will end at Eldoret Sports Club.
Over the years, the event has attracted stars such as Valary Aiyebei, the winner of 2015 edition and 2012 winner Weldon Kirui.
Jackson kemboi and Cynthia Jerop were last year's winners.
According to Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman Abraham Mutai, preparation of this year's event are in top gear and they are optimistic of registering 2,500 athletes for half marathon and 1,200 for full marathon.
“This year’s event will be bigger as we celebrate 12 years of its existence. The elite and fan runners are registering in big numbers for this unique event,” said Mutai, who is also the Athletics Kenya Central Rift chairman.
This is the only marathon event that brings together two countries because the marathons start in Nandi and end in Uasin Gishu’s Elodret Sports Club and planning in both counties is still on-going.
"Viola Chepchirchir, the 2018 Lens marathon winner and Hellen Jepkurgat the winner of 2019 Lisbon marathon, will be some of star attractions on Sunday in the full and half marathons respectively," said Mutai.
Loyalty gaming Lotto Foundation are the title sponsors of the race having pumped in Sh6 million. Nandi County is also sponsoring the event with Sh1 million.
Winners of the full marathon will pocket Sh1.5 million, while 21km top finishers will walk home with Sh500, 000. [Dennis Okeyo]