The seventh edition of the Safaricom Kisumu Marathon

The 7th annual Kisumu marathon was ran yesterday 16th December 2012 with over 400 runners participating. It was a 10 km loop around the city which had the athletes going  round 4 times with the starting line at Equity bank, snaking through the major roads in Milimani and Nyalenda over four laps before the finish line at the Jomo Kenyatta sports ground.The 2nd oldest full marathon in the country had been postponed for about two weeks due to lack of sponsorships because of  the unpopularity of marathons in the region. Safaricom came to its rescue by sponsoring the marathon to the tune of 1.5 million with the men’s and women’s winners in the 42-kilometre race  each earned Sh200,000 with the first home runner across the line pocketing Sh10,000 extra. The race is usually characterized by its high humidity and heat perfect for a marathon race.
Daniel Kipkorir Kilimo won the men's title  clocking two hours, 14 minutes and 26 and former Amsterdam Marathon champion Magdalene Chenjor (2:31:32) took the first place in the women’s race.

There was also a five-kilometre race exclusively for Kisumu area runners with the men’s and women’s winners getting Sh7,000 and the cash awards, like in the marathon, going down to the 10th-place finisher.
There are future plans to elevate the race to jack pot status  with winners expected to pocket 1.5 million and  for it to be used as a try out event for international marathons and more races will be included to attract more participants like the kids, youth and veterans races.