Standard Chartered Marathon organizers have launched a training program for People Living with Disabilities ahead of the Nairobi Marathon scheduled for October 30.
The programme will take eight to 10 weeks and will be used as a yardstick to identify participants in the cadre.
Association of Persons with Disability programme officer, Benson Agesa said the core agenda of the training is to create an all-inclusive platform for People Living with Disabilities.
“ We want to increase the number of participants with disabilities in the marathon. The PWD races have evolved from featuring individuals with permanent physical and visual impairments to involving people living with more diverse impairments such as intellectual disabilities,” he noted.
"Last year, the marathon attracted 152 participants in the disability category compared to 86 wheelchair participants in 2021. This year we are targeting 100 participants,” he explained.
Egesa added: “Our focus during training will be to improve the participants’ speed and endurance. Of course, the wheelchairs we are using are not friendly to the marathon terrain but we are also working on that.”
Meanwhile, the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon has contributed over Sh672 million to various projects across the country over the last 20 years, the organisers have revealed. The marathon has attracted over 270,000 participants from all walks of life to date.
“Our commitment is to build a bridge to access for underprivileged and underserved people across Kenya. As we celebrate 20 years of impact through our marathon, we are encouraged because we are the only marathon on the continent with specific races for PWDs,” said StanChart Marathon Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman, Peter Gitau.
Among the races approved for Persons with Disabilities to participate include the 21 km wheelchair and 42kms relay race. Other races of the day are —42kms full Marathon, 21km half marathon, 10km and the 5km family fun run
