More than 300 athletes will compete in the second edition of Mutuini Half Marathon Sunday morning in Dagoretti South, Nairobi County.
Race Director John ‘Warm Up’ Muthiga, who is the Athletics Kenya Dagoretti Sub-County chairman, told Nation Sport that Sunday’s race will start and end at Karigu Primary School.
Muthiga disclosed on Saturday that athletes will compete in three race categories today; men and women’s 21km (half marathon), the 10km race for men and women, and the 3.5km fun run.
Mutuini Half Marathon is organised to raise funds to support Mutuini Hope Centre, a project for children in need. The centre currently supports 150 children and youth.
Close to Sh4 million was raised in last year’s edition of the competition which attracted 400 participants, and Muthiga has said that they had extended registration to Sunday morning.
“By Friday, we had registered close to 300 participants and more were still streaming in. We have given them a grace period of up to 7am on Sunday morning,” said Muthiga.
The registration fee for this year’s race is Sh1,500 and Sh2,000 respectively. Participants can register for the race by making payment through MPesa Paybill Number 700694. The participant’s name is the account Number.
Nakuru’s Leonard Langat and Cecilia Wayua from Ngong won men and women’s races respectively last year. Langat, 27, who is also the 2016 Sotokoto Half Marathon winner, broke away from a group of five with 16 kilometres to go win the race held under overcast conditions in 1 hour, 03 minutes and 14 seconds.
Wayua, the Standard Chartered Taipei Marathon champion, clocked 1:16:26 to win the hotly-contested women’s race.
Mutuini Hope Centre director Mbugua Mwangi said the centre has paid school fee for 127 children in primary school and taken 23 teenagers to secondary schools.
The centre also supports two ladies pursuing university education with money raised from last year’s race. The centre also runs a feeding programme for children on a daily basis, and pays out allowances to its support staff.
Mbugua said they hope to raise more funds to sustain the project and reach out to more needy children and youth.
“Eventually, we hope to build a secondary school that will have a baby-care section manned by nurses to allow the young girls who drop out of school due to early motherhood continue with their education,” Mwangi said. “They won’t have to worry about the cost of hiring a nanny when thinking of going back to school.”
One of the causes of child neglect and rampant poverty in Mutuini, Mwangi said, is early motherhood.
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