Eldoret City Marathon race director Moses Tanui has announced that Victor Kipchirchir and Mercy Kipchumba, winners of the third edition of the race, will be paid their prize monies on October 22.
Tanui said the duo have had to wait for four months for the fruits of their sweat because he was yet to receive anti-doping results from Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya.
"There is a big cost involved in paying for testing, depending on the number of athletes you want to test. We tested about 12 athletes that cost us over Sh 500,000. We now have the results, which will be known during the prize giving," Tanui said.
He apologised for the delay in awarding the winners, saying they were keen not to make the mistake of feting those who had cheated their way to victory.
"Eldoret City Marathon is taking all the precautions and measures to ensure the athletes we pay are clean. As much as we had some delays, it was good for clean athletes to get their dues while weeding out the unscrupulous ones," the former Boston marathon champion said.
Kipchirchir and Kipchumba will each receive Sh 3.5 million for winning the male and female categories of the June event.
Kipchirchir finished first in 2:08.56, ahead of Leonard Lagat (2:10.49) and Emmanuel Bor (2:11.10) in second and third respectively. Kipchumba timed 2:28.10, ahead of Judith Korir (2:28.31) and Jackline Chelal (2:29.47).
