Eldoret City Marathon 5th Edition Launched for Climate Action

Uasin Gishu

Saturday, September 2, 2023

KNA by Ekuwam Sylvester

The annual Eldoret City Marathon will take place on October 1st in Eldoret town.

The event will feature international athletes from various countries like Spain, Argentina, India, Uganda Tanzania, and others who will compete with local athletes to support the theme, Climate Action.

The event, also in partnership with The Great Ethiopia Run, will feature two athletes from Ethiopia who will be participating in the race.

The Eldoret City Marathon Director Moses Tanui indicated that the event is envisioned to attain international standards to outlive the current generation like the century-old Boston International Marathon of 1996, where he (himself) was a champion.

Tanui lauded the sponsors for their support both locally and internationally especially the main sponsors the Gulf Royal and Economic Global Holding under the leadership of Sheikh Majid Al Qassimi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah who are renowned for their commitment to community development and nurturing talents.

The race director said that the sponsors are not only supporting the marathon but also helping nurture the talents of the young and needy athletes in the region, who have no resources and opportunity to participate in the other races both in the country and outside.

“Most of the young athletes who train in the streets here do not have money or support to go out of the country but the Eldoret City marathon is an opportunity for them to showcase their talents for it is really an international race that everyone is looking at,” he said.

“Through it, the young and needy athletes who will emerge top 20 can secure chances to have managers, links to companies, and international sponsors,” added Tanui.

On her part, Uasin Gishu County Executive for Sports, Eng. Lucy Ngendo Njoroge said that the county has been and continues to strongly support the marathon since its inception in 2018.

She reaffirmed the county government’s commitment to nurturing talents through sports and athletics, adding that it sponsors 1,000 athletes to participate in the marathon.

“We have been keen on ensuring the continuity of the Eldoret City Marathon. This time we will be sponsoring athletes all over the county, 20 from each of the 30 wards and also 400 athletes from the county staff, in total we have 1000 athletes ready to run in the marathon,” said Eng. Ngendo.

In regard to climate action, Eldoret City Chairperson Andrew Chelugui outlined that the race has contributed tremendously toward climate action through the planting of trees across various parts of Uasin Gishu County.

He called on partners’ cooperation to participate in tree planting to help fight climate change, which has had adverse impacts on both human and plant life globally.

“We have planted and fenced trees on 15 acres of land in the Kapseret forest and also bamboo trees along Sossiani river. Our aim is to ensure that as we fight for a good climate, we also have enough water for domestic and agricultural use. We urge you to continue planting trees because when we plant trees, we will have sustainable rains,” noted Mr. Chelugui.

In her remarks, Sharon Cheluget, the county Deputy County Forest Conservator pointed out that the marathon, through its theme of climate action, has been playing a key role in mitigating climate change through the planting of trees.

She further commended the Marathon for its active involvement in tree planting, noting that it will go a long way in supporting the achievement of the government plan to plant 15 billion trees by 2030, which translates to 1.5 billion trees per year.

She indicated that the Eldoret City Marathon in partnership with the Climate Action Department of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has planted a lot of trees in schools, polytechnics, and other public and private institutions in order to fight climate change.

“We need to plant trees so as to mitigate the effects of climate change as we know trees help to absorb carbon dioxide that we release from our industries. It is through our activities that we tend to pollute the environment and so are we required to restore our environment,” alluded Ms. Cheluget

“We are looking forward to planting more trees in this year’s fifth edition as compared to the previous editions,” she added.

Courtesy ; K. N. A