Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon has announced closure of some roads in Nairobi to facilitate its races on Sunday. 

Because of the Covid-19  prevention measures, the 18th edition physical marathon will be limited to 2,500 elite runners from Kenya and other countries such as Uganda and Ethiopia and will be held on the Southern Bypass route.

The start and finishing points will be at the Carnivore Grounds and will feature different race categories namely: 10km, 21km, 21km Wheelchair Race, 42km and the 42km Corporate Relay.

To allow for safety provisions for the runners, the Nairobi Traffic department has designed an elaborate road closure diversions schedule that will see traffic to and out of the Southern Bypass diverted to alternative roads between 12am and 1pm on October 31. 

All inter-changes to the Southern bypass will be closed with the Dagoretti inter-change partially closed.

Motorists will be diverted to Dagoretti road, Lang’ata Road, Enterprise Road, Uhuru Highway and Waiyaki Way.

Road construction

Trucks from Inland Container Depot (ICD) will be redirected to Mombasa Road within the stipulated period.

Unlike previous marathon routes, the Southern Bypass route was chosen due to ongoing construction of Expressway on Uhuru Highway and Mombasa Road. 

The route was also picked due to its proximity to the Nairobi National Park, which has a great scenic route and creates an opportunity to use the marathon to advance tourism.

Qualifying times for elite athletes have been adjusted to allow for more reach and inclusion, with registration for the physical marathon done on a first come, first served basis.

This year, the organisers have adopted a hybrid format that combines the traditional mass participation physical race for elite runners only with a virtual option for the rest of the participants. 

“Because of Covid-19 protocols, there will be a limited number of people who can participate in the physical marathons which is why we’ve also introduced a virtual one,” said Peter Gitau, the chairman of the Local Organising Committee.