Winners at the Nairobi City Marathon will be treated to some of the prestigious cash prizes for their efforts during the various race events.
Marketed as the highest prize money in Africa, organisers of the Nairobi City Marathon will reward up to 20 athletes regardless of their positions at the end of the races.
The highest prize money will be for the daring 42km marathon which was won by Kaptagat’s Eliud Magut after clocking 2: 09: 47. Magut will receive Ksh3.5 million.
He was closely followed by Josphat Bett who came second at 2: 10: 01 and Emmanuel Sikuku at third place after clocking 2:10: 05.
Bett will pocket Ksh2.25 million for second place while Sikuku will receive Ksh1.5 million.
The 38-year-old Magut expressed satisfaction with his performance, noting that he had been training for the whole year for the Nairobi City Marathon.
“I have been training all year in readiness for this race. I haven’t competed in any other road race this year since December,” Magut said after winning the marathon on Sunday, September 8, 2024.
Magut shied away from stating what he planned to spend the money on, hinting only that whatever he planned to do with it would be for the ‘long-term benefit.’
Women marathon
Cynthia Jerotich emerged the winner of the Nairobi City Marathon in the women’s category after clocking 2: 28: 02 to beat Lilian Chebii (2: 28: 29) and Peris Jerono (2: 30: 44) who came second and third respectively.
Jerotich will smile all the way to the bank with her Ksh3.5 million paycheck, while her competitors will similarly receive Ksh2.25 million and Ksh1.5 million respectively.
The 34-year-old said she gained confidence several minutes into the race and was convinced of a great performance.
“It was a tough race but once I took the lead, I believed in myself and was more hopeful of winning it than when I first began,” Jerotich stated.
But that is not the end of it all, athletes in position four will get Ksh800,000, position 5-Ksh650,000, position 6-Ksh450,000, position 7-Ksh400,000, position 8- Ksh325,000, position 9-Ksh300,000, and 10th-placed-Ksh200,000.
From position 11, the athletes will receive Ksh175,000, 12th place-Ksh150,000, 13thplace-Ksh140,000, 14th plece-Ksh130,000, 15th place-Ksh120,000, 16th place-Ksh100,000, 17th place-Ksh80,000, 18th place-Ksh60,000, 19th place-Ksh50,000 and Ksh30,000 for position 20.
The sums will be uniform across the two categories in the 42km marathon races for both genders.
Half marathon
For the half marathon of 21km, the prize money will start at Ksh150,000 and cascade down to Ksh20,000 for the sixth-placed athlete across the two categories.
However, for the 10km Expressway run, the winner will walk away with Ksh100,000 while position six will receive Ksh7,500 across the two categories.
