World Champion athletes, Catherine Ndereba and Henry Wanyoike, recently joined representatives from corporates and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy wildlife rangers for a practice run in Karura Forest. The participants ran and walked the 5km, 10km and 21km races to help promote the upcoming Virtual Lewa Safari Marathon.
The promotional event was held in Nairobi for the first time to draw attention to a wider audience of athletes, families and corporates. The Annual Lewa Marathon impacts thousands of lives across Kenya. It’s main aim is to protect Kenya’s natural heritage and wildlife.
The mini-run was hosted by Virtual Lewa Safari Marathon headline sponsors, Safaricom and Huawei.
“It is a great honour to be part of the Lewa Safari marathon which has raised over 850 million shillings to fund wildlife conservation and community development in Kenya over the last 21 years. Safaricom’s purpose has always been to transform lives and there is no better way to do it than to protect the environment in which we live and conduct business in and supporting the communities we serve,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
Due to the unfolding global Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that come along with it, the annual marathon, organized by Tusk Trust in partnership with Lewa, which is due to be held on June 26, will be the second virtual edition of the famous event.
The marathon draws over 1400 participants annually, breaking that record last year when it went virtual for the first time in its 21-year history with 20 countries, 70 cities and over 2000 participants taking part in the event.
“It is quite remarkable the extent at which Lewa Conservancy has gone to preserve Kenya’s natural heritage and the future of its lands, culture and people. We commend you for going beyond Lewa itself to helping so many other natural areas across the country. Environmental sustainability is a key pillar in Huawei’s CSR and that is why this marathon is and continues to be of key interest to Huawei,” said Will Meng, CEO Huawei Kenya.
To date, over 600 participants have registered with event organizers hoping to meet the target of at least 1000 participants. Like the FunRun, the marathon will have no time limit. Participants are welcome to complete their distance any time throughout June, over days or weeks.