The State Minister for Sports, Peter Ogwang affirmed the government’s commitment to supporting sports development, and announced a ministry pledge of one million dollars (Shs 3.8 billion) towards the prize kitty of the Tusker Rwenzori Marathon.
Set for the fifth edition in Kasese, this year’s marathon is slated to take place on August 22. Ogwang’s pledge is expected to raise the stakes of this event. But rather more significantly, is the fact that World Athletics has labelled it as one of its recognizable marathons.
The race has been included in the World Athletics activity calendar and has also attained Label Marathon status. Essentially, the Tusker Rwenzori marathon was recently officially endorsed by the global athletics governing body.
This means that the marathon has met the highest standards of quality, safety, and elite competition. It is only the third race in the region and the seventh on the continent to attain Label Marathon status.
Therefore, it will now allow participants to qualify for the Comrades Marathon, the Two Oceans Marathon, as well as the top seven marathons of the world like the Boston, Berlin and London marathons among others.
Julius Nkuraija, the former race director of this marathon said that it was a huge leap made by the Rwenzori marathon, in attaining label status.
“It is going to attract many professional athletes, both emerging and elite ones. This is simply because of the opportunity it is going to provide. Knowing that one can qualify to participate in the major marathons, simply by setting a good time in the Tusker Rwenzori marathon, will prompt many to compete in it,” Nkuraija said.
Against that background, Amos Wekesa, CEO of Equator Hikes and lead organiser of the event, said that the marathon’s growth can be attributed to drawing inspiration from successful road races around the world.
The Rwenzori marathon, according to Wekesa, is at the same level as the New York one, for instance. As a result, Wekesa added that this year they expect around 20,000 runners from across the globe.
Due to the new status of the Tusker Rwenzori marathon, the cash prize, which has been at Shs 7 million for the winner, from a total kitty of over Shs 80 million is expected to rise. Now that the Rwenzori marathon is on the activity calendar of World Athletics, paying elite runners a participation fee, sometimes starting as low as $5000 (Shs 18 million) will become a norm. It is now a hub for professional runners, which is another big milestone for the Tusker Rwenzori Marathon.
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