The 14th edition of the Madoka Half Marathon received Sh6.55m boost from five companies yesterday.
The event, founded and patronised by Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka will be held on October 5 at Ngerenyi in Taita Taveta County.
The event has attracted Sh3m from Kenya Ports Authority, Sh2m from Safaricom and Sh750,000 from Brookside. Others, who have chipped in are Kenya Commercial Bank Sh500,000 and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Sh300,000.
Madoka noted that the people in Taita Taveta are excited about the marathon and hopes to use the event to tap more talent from the region. Madoka said he also looks to widen the scope of the event from just nurturing talent to conservation.
He said: “We are grateful to all these sponsors. We are talking with Sarova Group to merge Madoka Half Marathon and Tsavo Run then channel the race proceeds toward wildlife conservation.”
“We have also set aside a parcel of land for High Altitude Training Centre and the County Government has already set aside Sh20m for the first phase of the camp,” added Madoka.
Athletics Kenya (AK) president Lieutenant General (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei said: “We are very grateful to Madoka for supporting this event and we are already enjoying the fruits. We urge more entities to come up with similar projects.”
“The race has been granted a permit thus it is mandatory to go through anti-doping procedures. The winners do not get their prize money until their results are out,” said Tuwei.
Sarah Tuva of KPA said they are looking forward to making the Madoka Half Marathon their flagship Corporate Social Responsibility event.
