Having started the race last year, Her Excellency the First Lady of Kenya, Margaret Kenyatta, this year ran the opening 5km run with the children, before visiting some of the important conservation and community work supported by the event.
The men’s full marathon had a new winner this year, with Duncan Maiyo completing the course in just over 2 hours, 20 minutes, while Emmah Kilole won the women’s marathon with a time of 2:50:31. For the second year running, the half marathon was won by Moris Munene in 1:06:06. Paralympian World Champion Henry Wanyoike meanwhile recorded his Safaricom Marathon personal best in the half marathon with a time of 1:25:02.
The full results of the 2019 Safaricom Full Marathon, Half Marathon, and Children’s 5km Race can be viewed by clicking here.
More than 170 overseas runners took part, including teams from BlackRock, DWS, Emso Asset Management, Goldman Sachs, and UBS. Emso Asset Management won the fundraising trophy, raising more than $100,000 (£79,000) with more to come. Once all funds are in we hope to have raised more than $500,000 (£394,000) overall.
The overseas runners were able to see firsthand some of the initiatives that the funds they have raised will support. These include some of the schools supported by the Lewa Education Programme, water projects, the Lewa Health Clinic, and the Lewa Conservation Education Centre. They were also given a special demonstration by the Lewa rangers and the tracker dogs, which have maintained a zero-poaching record on Lewa for over six years. Such demonstrations and visits underline the impact that the event has in protecting wildlife and transforming people’s lives.
We are extremely grateful to everyone who took park, and the more than 5,000 spectators who came to support them. We would also especially like to thank the teams from the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Safaricom and the many other sponsors, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure yet another very smooth and successful marathon.
Tusk is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Safaricom’s CEO, Bob Collymore. Bob and his team have been longstanding partners of the Tusk Safaricom Marathon at Lewa championing conservation and development for the past 20 years. Bob will be greatly missed.
Photos courtesy of Bobby Neptune
