20th Edition Of Lewa Marathon Set For June 29th

The Safaricom Marathon 2019 has been slated to take place on Saturday 29th June 2019 in Lewa Conservancy. The annual marathon is an initiative of Tusk Trust and the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in partnership with Safaricom, who are the title sponsors.

The marathon, which is in its 20th year, has raised over Ksh. 750 million. This year, the marathon seeks to raise Ksh. 100 million to support various projects.

The partnership between Safaricom, Tusk and Lewa has over the years positively impacted communities and wildlife from Mount Kenya to the coast; across two world heritage sites; protecting species as large as the elephant and as small as a baby turtle.

“Over the last 19 editions we have seen Safaricom Marathon in Lewa transform the lives of the communities it serves. It has given them access to health, clean water and education, and we are motivated to continue supporting the marathon because we have seen the impact on over 500,000 lives that are touched through the various initiatives,” said Charles Wanjohi, Safaricom’s Director of the Consumer Business Unit.

Since inception, the annual marathon has raised over Sh750 million which has gone into wildlife conservation, construction and equipping of schools, provision of equipment at health facilities and engaging in sustainable harvest and use of water.

“We’re immensely proud of all that has been achieved in partnership with Safaricom. Thanks to their invaluable support Tusk has made a real difference to the lives of the many thousands of Kenyans living alongside their wildlife,” said Tusk CEO Charlie Mayhew.

“We are particularly proud that the Safaricom Marathon has become a valuable shop window for Kenya – attracting numerous overseas runners to Lewa each year.”

The Marathon has also enabled over 10,000 children get education, while 40,000 people now have access to healthcare and 50,000 people annually benefit from agroforestry, irrigation and infrastructure initiatives.

The Marathon will have three categories of runners which include; 5km children’s fun race for children aged 10 to 17 years, the 21 km half marathon which will include team races and the 42km full marathon.

“We are grateful to Safaricom for supporting us since we started the Marathon 20 years ago. We have seen the communities around Isiolo, Laikipia and Meru grow as a result of the money raised from the Marathon,” Lewa Conservancy CEO Mike Watson stated.