Nairobi City marathon set for October return

Standard Chartered on Tuesday,13 July launched its annual Nairobi Marathon with the date set for October 31, 2021. The marathon, which has previously been fully physical will now adopt a hybrid format that includes both physical and virtual participation.

The marathon makes a comeback this year after it was cancelled in 2020 due to unprecedented challenges brought about by COVID-19 and the containment measures required. The newly adopted hybrid format will combine the traditional mass participation physical race for elite runners only with a virtual option for the rest of the participants. 

The physical marathon restricted to 2,500 local and international elite athletes will be held on the Southern Bypass with Carnivore Grounds as the marathon venue. The virtual marathon will be targeting 13,500 participants to encourage active lifestyles among participants will be done between October 25 to 31.

Speaking during the launch, Kariuki Ngari, CEO Standard Chartered said, “Upon cancellation of the marathon last year, we took time to engage with a couple of stakeholders and gained some useful insights for future marathons. One of the key things that came up was the adoption of virtual marathons and the emergence of virtual running communities across the world. This has been reflected in our hybrid marathon this year which will allow for virtual participation. We have also considered key issues such as safety and have consequently set up measures to ensure Covid safety protocols are observed during the marathon.’’ 

Nairobi Marathon is back after Covid enforced hiatus

‘’Last year, a number of elite runners were affected due to the cancellation and we stepped up to offer financial and educational support through the KipKeino Foundation. We look forward to seeing many of them participate in this year’s marathon and we will keep working towards ensuring our athletes are well equipped to perform well in a number of areas, including financial management. Additionally, the funds collected will be instrumental in driving our Futuremakers initiative which provides youth in need with education, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.

In 2019, these fundraising efforts supported over 4,400 girls with life skills and economic opportunity training and the bank also invested Shs15 million to support women-led start-ups. Additionally, more than 650 youth and SMEs received financial literacy training. We are grateful for the support received for the past 17 years from participants, volunteers and partners and we look forward to running together for a worthy cause.’’ he concluded.  

Athletics Kenya (AK) Chairman Jackson Tuwei said, “This is an opportune moment for athletes to come and prove themselves in the marathon. Last year was a difficult year for athletes and this year, together with various stakeholders, we are planning every event with the athlete’s welfare in mind. The long-standing relationship with Standard Chartered Bank has been fruitful in nurturing the next champions in road races and we believe this race is a launching pad for many budding athletes in the region.”

He added, “Elite athletes will be selected based on their timings from 2019 since majority of them were not able to compete in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For men, this will be between 2 hours 7 minutes to 2 hours 20 minutes while for women, will be between 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours all for a full marathon.” 

The elite athletes will be selected from the AK database, training camps, previous SCNM edition database and previous marathons in the country. For the international elite marathoners, AK will reach out to respective athletics federations around the world to participate in the event for the 10Kms, 21kms and 42kms categories.

There will also be warm-up races to the main marathon which will include a limited number of SCNM community to practice together. These sessions will be conducted by seasonal trainers and coaches and will be held at Sanctuary, Karura, Ololua and Arboretum. Participation for the warm-up races will be determined by the best performing athletes on the Strava challenges.