Nairobi Marathon returns after 2020 COVID-19 cancellation

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 13 – The annual Nairobi Marathon, sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, will return this year after last year’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s race, scheduled for October 31 will involve both physical and virtual participation.

The newly adopted hybrid format will combine the traditional mass participation physical race for elite runners only with a virtual option for the rest of the participants.

The physical marathon restricted to 2,500 local and international elite athletes will be held on the Southern Bypass with Carnivore Grounds as the start and finish venue.

With a great view of Nairobi National Park along the bypass, this year’s Marathon will be a great showcase of our city and its potential in the tourism sector.

The virtual marathon will be targeting 13,500 participants to encourage active lifestyles among participants will be done between the 25th – 31st of October 2021.

Speaking during the launch, Kariuki Ngari, CEO Standard Chartered said, “Upon cancellation of the marathon last year, we took time to engage with a couple of stakeholders and gained some useful insights for future marathons.”

“One of the key things that came up was the adoption of virtual marathons and the emergence of virtual running communities across the world. This has been reflected in our hybrid marathon this year which will allow for virtual participation. We have also considered key issues such as safety and have consequently set up measures to ensure Covid safety protocols are observed during the marathon.’’

‘’Last year, a number of elite runners were affected due to the cancellation and we stepped up to offer financial and educational support through the KipKeino Foundation. We look forward to seeing many of them participate in this year’s marathon and we will keep working towards ensuring our athletes are well equipped to perform well,” he added.

There will be four race categories including the 10km, 21km, full marathon and the 42km relay.

Elite athletes to be invited for the Marathon will be selected based on their timings from 2019 since majority of them were not able to compete in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For men, organizers have set a cut-time of 2hrs, 20mins while women will have a cut time of 2hrs, 30mins.

The elite athletes will be selected from the Athletics Kenya database, training camps, previous Nairobi Marathon edition database and previous marathons in the country.

For the international elite marathoners, Athletics Kenya will reach out to respective athletics federations around the world to participate in the event for the (10Kms, 21kms and 42kms) categories.

Meanwhile, for the virtual competitors, one will be required to download the Strava app.

Then he/she will be required to sign up for the challenge (Either 5Kms, 10km, 21kms, 42kms or 42kms relay).

Once completion of the challenge, they will be issued with a reward which may include Strava virtual badges, slots for physical warm up races, Strava premium subscription for a year, shopping vouchers and LFC merchandize.

There will also be warm up races to the main marathon which will include a limited number of SCNM community to practice together. These sessions will be conducted by seasonal trainers and coaches and will be held at Sanctuary, Karura, Ololua and Arboretum.