Macharinyang, Cheruiyot to defend Madoka Marathon titles

Hosea Mwok Macharinyang and Lucy Cheruiyot will be defending their Safaricom Madoka Half-Marathon titles on October 21 in Mwatate, Taita.

Last year, Macharinyang claimed the men’s top honours in 1:7.14 ahead of Nichodemus Kipkurui (1:7:23) and Simon Kiluthi (1:7.38) who settled for second and third positions respectively.

His counterpart Cheruiyot claimed the women’s title in 1:19.24, while Edith Chelimo stopped the timer at 1:20:13, for second place, followed closely by Pauline Wangui in 1:20.13, to seal the last podium slot available.

The duo will attempt to be the first pair to successfully defend their titles since the inaugural race in 2005.

According to race patron Marsden Madoka, top three locals in the half marathon will also receive tokens of appreciation.

“The aim of this race is to develop talent. The coast region is lagging behind in terms of sports, especially athletics. Hopefully, we shall be able to get enough funds to set up an athletics camp in Taita Hills, which is the same altitude as Eldoret in Usain Gishu County.

“Last year, we had one of our very own finishing third in the half marathon. He was taken to camp in Kapsabet, Nandi County, for training before he moved to the United States. He is performing well and has won Philadephia Half Marathon and another race in Canada. This means that we can have talent from the coast region. It just needs to be nurtured,”Madoka said.

Coastal region chairman Dimi Kisalu, who is also the race organizer, urged locals to turn out in large numbers to participate in the 12th edition of the race, adding that there will be three special categories meant for the natives only.

“Only the half marathon is open to all. The following races will be open to people of the coast region, alone,” he said.

Top finisher in the men and women races will pocket Sh 500,000, runner up Sh 250,000, while third place finishers will contend with Sh 100,000.

Meanwhile, Athletics Kenya  first vice president Paul Mutwii  has called upon  athletes in the country to show up for a peaceful doping sensitization walk set for November 2.

Mutwii said that the walk will be held in each county to reach a larger target audience. Mutwii said that the objective is to sensitize athletes and the general public against doping.

“We have organised training sessions with Anti Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) officials in some of the places where doping is prevalent,” said Mutwii.

The initiative will be the first of its kind after Kenya was removed from World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) watch list .This was after the local agency complied with its requirement.