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StanChart race boosts athletes with disability

 

The organisers of the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon Sunday launched a six-week training program for Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) who will compete in this year’s event.

The virtual category of the marathon will take place from October 23 to 30 when the physical race will be held on the streets of Nairobi.

The PLWDs will participate in a 21 kilometers wheelchair race and 42km relay race. Participants in the physical race will choose to compete in 42, 21, 10 and a five kilometers family run.

The marathon has retained the Southern Bypass route for the physical run with Uhuru Gardens as the main venue.

Organisers are targeting 15000 local and international runners for the physical marathon, while 10,000 participants are targeted for the virtual race.

According to Peter Gitau, the chairman of the marathon’s Local Organising Committee, the PLWDs training program is part of the race’s agenda to support diversity and inclusion.

“At Standard Chartered, we believe in a fair and balanced world, where everyone is welcome to participate and given the same chances in a safe and inclusive environment,” said Gitau.

“We aim to boost access and equality within our events by running outreach programmes and partnering with local organisations to understand how we can improve accessibility to our events for people living with disabilities.”

The launch of the training program for the PLWDs was held at Parklands Sports Club in Nairobi.

Renowned marathoner Douglas Wakihuuri will be the lead trainer for the over 50 PLWDs expected to take part in this year’s event.

The training will run from Monday to Saturday at different places including the University of Nairobi Grounds. It will entail stretching, speed track workouts,  physiotherapy and talks with experts on race technicalities.

The marathon’s LOC has been working with the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK) in mobilising wheelchair race participants.

This includes the verification of the routes and venues for the wheelchair participants, as well as putting together the requirements of the wheelchair participants for the marathon.

Last year, the marathon hosted 86 wheelchair race participants.

“The Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon has evolved from being just a sporting event to becoming a platform for driving sustainability and community engagement initiatives.

It has become an event that promotes innovation, collaboration and solidarity amongst participants and spectators. It has a positive impact on the natural environment. This is aligned to global trends to integrate sustainability into major sporting events,” said Gitau.

Under the slogan ‘a tree per runner’, the marathon targets to plant at least 25,000 trees.

Registration for this year’s event is still open on www.nairobimarathon.com for both virtual and the physical marathon.

Individual and corporate participants are encouraged to take advantage of the early bird entry fee of Sh 2000 which lapses on October 10.

Thereafter until October 16, the entry fee will be Sh2500.      BY DAILY NATION    



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