Over 100 foreigners to take part in Nairobi Int'l marathon

Over 100 foreigners are expected to compete in this year's Nairobi International Marathon, which will be held on Oct. 30. Organisers are expecting a high entry of over 20,000 athletes in a marathon, which is marking its eight editions since its inauguration in 2003 sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. The race, which used to be part of the defunct Greatest Race on Earth (GROE) that was financed by the bank in Mumbai, Singapore and Hong Kong, will see the winners take home 150,000 U.S. dollars. The race aims to help battle avoidable blindness and targets to raise 200,000 dollars for charity. David Okeyo, the Athletics Kenya secretary general, said the race has evolved and epitomized the aspiration of the athletics fraternity, which wanted a major road race to showcase the city's diversity as well as underscores the country's rich reservoir of road racers. Current, the country holds the highest number of elite marathon runners with the top 80 ranked in the best 100 for the men while about half of the top 20 women are from Kenya. However, Okeyo ruled out using the race to select athletes that will make the Kenya team to the Olympics next year. Already world record holder Patrick Makau, who is also the Berlin Marathon champion, and the two reigning world marathon champions Abel Kirui and Edna Kiplagat have been named in the team. With each country only allowed three runners for each gender, only three, two women and one man, will be added to the list. "We are still monitoring how these athletes will perform in Chicago, New York, London and Boston. From there we will be able to confirm who we will include in the team," Okeyo said on Sunday in Nairobi. There have been top performances by Kenyan marathon runners this year, but Okeyo said they are not expected to compete in the Nairobi International marathon. The race, run at an altitude of over 5,500m above sea level, holds a unique attribute. Only local athletes have triumphed.