Author: YASINTA AMOS
AfricaPress-Tanzania: ELITE runners in all countries of East Africa are heading to Arusha ready for the Mount Meru Marathon, whose status is growing up rapidly.
There are over 500 participants listed for the forthcoming marathon, and all are fully registered as the grand race is set to be staged a week from now.
Out of the confirmed 500 athletes, there are five runners from Kenya, while 15 runners are Ugandans who are also waiting in the wings to enroll once permitted to travel.
The registration exercise meanwhile continues at various venues, including Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium where the race will start on Sunday, October 11th.
Prizes for the winners include 500,000/- cash for the top runners in the main 21km race. The runners up will be awarded 400,000/- each for the men and women categories.
According to the Mount Meru Marathon Director, Mercy Michael Ntabago, the third winners are to get 300,000/- each, while the fourth and fifth finishers are to get 200,000/- and 100,000/- respectively.
Ntabago said, the newly revived, but the oldest race in the Northern circuit, is sticking to the 21km ‘Half Marathon as the main event, which will be flagged off at Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium in the City.
There will also be a six kilometres fun race category.
She stated here that the routes will also be the same as those of the last year and with four weeks to go, more runners and other participating countries will be announced because enrolment exercise is still going on.
Other top finishers will be awarded medals. Previously the Marathon was to take place on September 27th 2020, but the date had to be pushed forward to allow more participants, especially those from other countries to get out of the Covid-19 lockdown.
“Part of the prizes includes a package to tour the legendary crater in the Ngorongoro Conservation Areas,” said the organizer.
The older version of the Mount Meru Marathon, which was always billed to be the most popular sporting event in Tanzania during the 1980s all the way to the 90s used to cover the full 42km distance.
It is still yet to be known whether last year’s winners will return again to fight for and defend their respective crowns in the next month’s Marathon.
Last year’s top winner of Mount Meru Marathon 2019 was Robert Ndiwa from Kenya who clocked 1 hour 6 minutes and 26 seconds.
Joshua Sule from Arusha, Tanzania was second after spending 1 hour 7 minutes and 4 seconds.
Elisha Wema came third with 1 hour 8 minutes with one second, while for the women category it was Asha Salum who won it.
