Taita Taveta to get High Training Altitude Centre

Taita Taveta County will soon have a High Altitude Training Centre (HATC) that will be constructed by organisers of the Safaricom Madoka Half Marathon.

Plans for the construction of the centre, which will be based in Taita Hills, were unveiled on Thursday during the launch of the 11th edition of the race, to be held on October 22 in Wundanyi, Taita Taveta County.

“We are happy to announce this new development and our plan to take athletics in the Coast region to the next level.

“We want to make this region a hub for athletics in the coming years by providing proper training facilities that will see us produce high profile athletes just like Eldoret and other parts of the Rift Valley, which are well known for their training grounds,” said event Chairman and Founder, Major (Rtd.) Marsden Madoka.

“Its main purpose is to bring serious athletics events with big athletes from across the world to Taita once the centre is ready, and inspire talented youths from the region,” Madoka told Citizen Digital in a later interview.

Over 2,000 athletes from across the country are expected to take part in the Half Marathon this year, including athletes from Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet and Machakos counties.

“This event has over the years raised the bar for athletes in the Coast region, and we are hoping to make the region more attractive to the athletes and sponsors by setting up this training centre,” added Major (Rtd.) Madoka.

The race will be flagged off by the British High Commissioner to Kenya Nic Hailey, starting and ending at Ngerenyi Grounds, adjacent to The School of Agriculture, Taita Taveta University.

The event will have six-race categories, with winners of the 21KM men’s and women’s races receiving a cash prize of Kshs.500, 000 each, while 2nd and 3rd position finishers will get Kshs 250,000 and Kshs. 100,000 respectively.

Last year’s winners John Mwangangi and Winfridah Moseti have confirmed their intention to defend their titles.

This edition will see the introduction of 5KM Governor’s Race, which will be led by Taita Taveta Governor John Mruttu, Uasin Gishu’s Jackson Mandago and Elgeyo Marakwet’s Alex Tolgos, all of whom will run alongside veterans and corporate teams.

“The presence of the governors from Rift Valley will be a boost to this year’s race. They come from the regions known for the best athletes in the world, therefore, we expect more competitors from their backyards to come along.

“Basically, we are adding more stakeholders who can promote the race,” offered the former Mwatate legislator.

The female category of the same race will be led by Taita County’s First Lady, Mrs. Hope Mruttu.

The Safaricom Madoka Half Marathon is the 7th long distance race in the 2016 Safaricom Athletics Series calendar, and the second in the Coast region after the Mombasa International Marathon.

The event has received Kshs.2 million in sponsorship from title sponsor, Safaricom, and will receive additional support from Huawei and a local betting firm.

“This year’s edition marks 11 years of partnership with the race’s organizing committee, and we’re pleased that the race continues to attract great talent and spectatorship,” Safaricom’s Sylvia Mulinge, Director for Consumer Business Unit remarked.

She hailed the cooperation between the Taita Taveta communities with the sponsor, saying it will go a long way in fresh talent discovery.

“We’ve seen what investment in the discovery and nurturing of new talent results in, as evidenced by the exploits of champions such as Conseslus Kipruto, Margaret Nyairera and Boniface Mucheru at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and are committed to continuing to transform lives by supporting athletics; and other sports in Kenya,” Mulinge asserted.

Tags:

athletics TAITA TAVETA Safaricom Madoka Half Marathon High Altitude Training Centre (HATC) Taita Hills

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