National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOCK) has intensified preparation for the first ever Estuary Wetsand marathon set to be held on November 28 this year.
Former NOCK President and World Marathon Champion Dr Paul Tergat led a team of senior officials to the estuary to launch the Sabaki Estuary Wetsand Marathon Awareness Walk, Official Marathon Flag off, Community Clean up and Mangrove restoration exercise.
The Marathon being organised by Progress Welfare Association of Malindi (PWAM), has been described as a movement to raise awareness about plastic pollution to help restore the coastal ecosystems, and inspire collective environmental action.
On material day the race is set to begin at the sand dunes along the Golden beach of Mamburui across the estuary where River Sabaki meets the Ocean and stretch to the Malindi Marine National Park and Reserve.
Hundreds of stakeholders led by PWAM including conservationists, hoteliers, business people, School children, County and National Government officials, KWS, Police, Judiciary, Casino Malindi among many others turned up for the clean up from Malindi round about to Malindi casino.
Later the whole delegation moved to the estuary where they planted 1000 mangrove seedlings, cleaned up the estuary and then Tergat accompanied by Felix Ngalla the Secretary Athletics Kenya Coast region and Race Director, Barnaba Korir the First Deputy President National Olympics Committee Kenya and member of the Executive Committee in charge of Youth Development Programs Athletics Kenya officially flagged off the marathon
Speaking to journalists, the World Champion said the Sabaki Estuary Wetsand Marathon was a unique and important initiative for conservation and cleaning beaches.
“I come from sports. Today we are not competing for medals or positions but the key thing we are competing here is that all of us including the community planting these mangrove trees is to preserve our nature for future and cleaning the beaches we are not cleaning for ourselves but for future generations,” he said.
Tergat said everyone who should be part and parcel of the marathon as at the end all of them will be champions by ensuring the environment is clean.
Korir the First Deputy President of NOCK on his part hailed PWAM for organising the Sabaki Estuary Wetsand marathon saying it will not only attract runners but shall also promote sports tourism.
“This is something the National Olympics Committee is interested in, in nurturing the talents, supporting the event to promote the tourism and sports activities in this region,” he said.
Felix Ngalla, the race director and Athletics Kenya Secretary Coast Region said now they would go full blast to ensure they market the event to attract as many participants as possible on November 28.
He said the 21-kilometre race has a lot of money as the overall winner will get Sh. 0.5 million with cash for the first 10 winners, men and women.
Kate Mwikali the Chairperson of PWAM said through their monthly clean ups that began in 2019 they discovered a lot of wastes that are brought by the river and the Ocean.
She said the idea of the clean up was to raise awareness against pollution of the ecosystem so that policy makers, Community and the world at large ensure the environment is kept clean.
“The Marathon is the compliance of all the laws to do with the Solid Waste Management act,” he said.
Kilifi County CEC Environment Omar Said together with the Malindi Municipality Manager Dadu Chome said they were happy to partner with PWAM and other stakeholders in organising the marathon so as to sensitize the public and the world against pollution.
Malindi High Court Judge Lady Justice Mugure Thande said they were happy to be part of the initiative to keep the environment clean and preserve it for generations to come.
“The Ocean is very important because it preserves lives and you know that Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth and also it beholds us as human beings who inhabit the air to protect the environment that God has given us,” he said.
