Bumper harvest for runners in Nakuru City Half Marathon

Stanbic Bank is committed to working with Nakuru County Government to nurture athletics talent and build a solid pool of young marathoners to feature in international competitions.

Speaking in Nakuru on the eve of 2022 Stanbic Nakuru City Half Marathon that will be held Sunday, the bank’s head of external affairs and corporate communication, Catherine Njoroge, said the second edition of the annual race will be bigger and better.

“Kenya is known worldwide as the home of marathon champions and this is shown by the many Kenyans participating in international marathon races across the globe. This is why we are sponsoring the Nakuru City Half Marathon for the second year running,” she said Saturday at the Rift Valley Sports Club after inspecting the final preparations for the event.

“We expect to build a solid pool of marathoners in our own country. Stanbic Nakuru City Half Marathon is the first step towards achieving this goal.

“We have international marathons happening all over the world but in Kenya, we have not yet positioned ourselves well with one marathon race that can bring international runners to compete on home soil.

“Our ultimate aim is to build and nurture young talents among people and that is why we have picked international runner Brigid Kosgei to be our brand ambassador to push this agenda.”

Apart from the 21km races, the athletes will participate in 10km and 5km races.

Winners of men and women’s 21km races will pocket Sh500,000, runners-up Sh250,000 and third-placed finishers Sh100,000.

Winners of the 10km races will take home Sh100,000, runners-up Sh75,000 and the third-placed finishers Sh50,000.

There will be cash prizes for the first 15 finishers.

Njoroge heaped praises on race ambassador Brigid Kosgei.

“We’re proud of Brigid because she has made a name through running and that is the reason we want her to be part of the campaign to discover raw talent.”

Kosgei is one of Kenya’s finest distance runners and winner of the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathon race, the 2019 and 2020 London marathon, and 2021 Tokyo Marathon.

The race has attracted runners from Nakuru, Kisumu, Nairobi, Nyahururu, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kericho, Bomet, Nandi and neighbouring countries of Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Meanwhile, Coach Peter Bii of the Asics club managed by Mezzo in Iten,  Elgeyo Marakwet county is optimistic of winning the top prize.

"We were here last year and this year I have six athletes who are in good shape and I'm optimistic they will climb the podium. Stanbic Nakuru City marathon is a fast course but we are equal to the task," said Bii.

Leading the pack is Vincent Ng'etich Kipkemoi who is a recent winner of the Tokyo Legacy 21km race and finished fourth in the Copenhagen City marathon. He won the Nairobi City Classic half marathon this year.

Others are Geffrey Kipchumba who was second in Standard Chartered 10km race, Patrick Mosin won the Standard Chartered 10km race, Alfred Muche (21km) and David Kimaiyo (21km), Mariam Chebet (10km), Cynthia Chengeno (21km) and Nancy Chepleting (10km).

The Sh10 million Stanbic Bank-sponsored event is a joint partnership between Nakuru County and Nation Media Group which is the official media sponsor and will televise it live on NTV.

This year's event is unique as it will be held a day before the cosmopolitan City celebrates its first anniversary since it was elevated to City status.