Southern region retired athletes launch Machakos Great Run

Retired and active elite athletes drawn from Southern region in conjunction with the Machakos County government Wednesday launched the inaugural Machakos 15km Great Run race to be held in August 29 at the Machakos People’s Park.

Led by the former World Championships silver medalist Caleb Mwangangi and national under-20 assistant team manager Joseph Ilovi, the organisers said they will pull out all the stops to ensure the annual race meets international standards.

“This region (Southern) is well known for producing top talents in athletics but in recent years it’s as if we’ve started to stagnate and we’re not giving Rift Valley enough challenge. This race is, among other strategies we want to employ to keep churning out many potent talents,” Mwangangi, a 2014 World Indoor Championships winner said.

According to the race director Philip Muia, the event organisers are targeting 1000 participants and will feature 15km, 10km and 5km categories for both men and women.

The winners for both men and women in each category will receive Sh.50, 000 as prize awards.

“The event has been sanctioned by the Athletics Kenya and we’re inviting all the athletes to start registering. The registration fee for the 15km category is Sh.1000, 10km category Sh.500 and Sh. 300 for fun run category.

“We’re even encouraging the community members to register also to participate in the fun race as part of active lifestyles,” he said.

On his part, Machakos Sports’ chief officer Victor Muniafu pledged support adding that besides sports, the event will be an attraction to tourism and a boost to business community in the county.