The inaugural Keringet road race will be held on November 30, in Kuresoi South, Nakuru County. The race seeks to seeks to identify and nurture talent.
The race will be divided into two categories- 15km race for men and women where the winner will pocket Sh100,000, runners up Sh80,000 and third place finishers will pocket Sh60,000. All the top 10 finishers will win cash prizes.
In the 10km race for men and women, the top three finishers will take home Sh50,000, Sh30,000 and Sh10,000 respectively.
The race will end at the proposed Keringet Sports Academy High Altitude Training Complex.
The 20-acre complex, whose first phase will cost the devolved unit Sh50 million, will be commissioned next year by Lee Governor Kinyanjui.
Keringet has produced world beaters including World Marathon Champion Geoffrey Kirui and the reigning Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Chepng’etich among others.
The race which was launched at the county headquarters on Thursday, was graced by Athletics Kenya (AK) officials led by Jepta Rono and South Rift AK branch chairman John Wachira.
“Keringet is the home of champions and there is no reason why this race cannot be upgraded into a full marathon to attract local and international runners,” said Rono.
He said that the last road race in the country was Geothermal Development Company (GDC) Half Marathon which was held for three years before the sponsors withdrew their support.
“The AK national office cannot allow a branch to hold full marathon without hosting half marathon and since Nakuru has in the past staged GDC Half Marathon, we are ready to host a full marathon in Keringet,” added Rono.
Rono urged the county government to set aside funds to host the full marathon possibly between May and June 2020.
He urged the county assembly to support the sports by pushing for more budgetary allocation.
Sports committee chairman at the county assembly Eddy Kiragu assured athletics fraternity that he will push for sports to get more funds.
“We have many talented youth and it is through sports we can nurture such talents, I will defend the sports budget at the assembly,” said Kiragu.
He said the past and current regimes have given sports department the second least budget allocation.
AK branch chairman John Wachira assured the county that his branch will give technical assistance to make sure the Nakuru County-sponsored event is successful.
Nakuru County attorney Caleb Nyamwange said the acquisition of the land where the Keringet Sports High Altitude Training Complex will be built is at an advanced stage.
