Meru Central Half Marathon cancelled

The 6th edition of Meru Central Half Marathon will not take place this year after sponsors pulled out of the annual event.

The event that was scheduled for Sunday, was to take place at Kariene primary school Central Imenti.

The organizing committee chairman Julius Kimathi said that they were unable to raise enough funds for the event.

“It is unfortunate that the event will not take place this weekend. We had good plans but we could not raise enough money towards the occasion. County government was our main sponsors but they are yet to communicate” said Kimathi.

He noted that the funds towards the event are not enough for the awards and their necessities including allowances for the officials.

However, Meru Sports CeC Koome Miriti said that the County government only had its support like any other sponsor.

“The marathon has in the past been privately sponsored. It was not our race, we only chipped in few coins together with other sponsors” said the CeC.

Koome noted that the event was planned for August, but the county government could not promise anything as counties had not received funds from the Nationa treasury.

Last year in September, Shelmith Muriuki and Samuel Njeru took the top honours at the fifth edition of the Half Marathon.

Muriuki was crowned the women’s winner after breasting the tape in 1:19:59:18 with Njeru claiming the men’s race in 1:08:20:06.

Muriuki, who hails from Machakos, on a phone interview, expressed frustration after the race was postponed.

“I was prepared to come and run to defend my tittle though a week before the race, I heard that it had been cancelled. I was not surprised because many races have been cancelled” said Muriuki.

She added, “There is nothing much we can do. We take these races as part of training and come next year, am ready to come back”.