Blog Post

The Nandi Tea/ Sameer Africa Group in collaboration with County Government of Nandi is organizing a marathon to take place on the 20th of March 2016.The Half Marathon is scheduled to start at Kapsabet town and end at Nandi Hills town’s Kapsiwon Grounds. Established in 2015 under the guidance of Sameer Africa Group Chairman Naushad Merali, this Marathon will henceforth be an annual event, supporting the construction of a 26,000 seater stadium in Nandi Hills. The foundation station for the Nandi Hills Stadium will also be laid on that same day.
The proposed theme for the event is “Nurturing future Champions through Tea” and its objectives are as follows:
To create opportunity for the world champions to interact with the community while mentoring young athletes.
To unlock the sports and cultural tourism within Nandi County.
To appreciate the rich agro-tourism potential that Nandi County presents.
It will consist of individual runners, walkers, family runs and Corporate teams i.e Half-marathon (21km)for Men and Women, Corporate races(5Km), School race(6km), Persons with Disabilities(2Km) and Executive races(2Km).
Sameer Africa Group will sponsor the Nandi Tea Marathon in 2017, with a Sh10million grant showing their commitment to the cause. “We have had discussions with the Nandi County Government and it is with this that we announce a sponsorship of Sh10million for the Nandi Tea Marathon in next year’s calendar and all their future events” says the group Chairman, Naushad Merali. Sameer Africa Group announced the construction of a stadium in Nandi Hills as one way of supporting the development of Sports in the county and Kenya as a whole. He signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nandi County Governor, Dr. Cleophas Lagat, on the construction of the stadium and the marathon event. The construction of the 26,000 seater stadium, is estimated to cost Sh.60 million and expected to start in January next year. Merali added that the stadium facility will go a long way in helping tap sporting talent, not only in athletics but also other disciplines like football and netball within the cosmopolitan tea estates. While applauding the country’s sportsmen for putting Kenya on the world map, Merali paid tribute to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya Chairperson, Kipchoge Keino, for his contribution to the country’s sporting talent. He reiterated his support for the country’s athletics, which he says dates back to 2001 when they sponsored the Athletics Kenya Cross Country series through the Ever ready batteries brand, With this, they also managed to sponsor the team to the World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, Canada. Merali said that Kenyan youth have the capacity to earn the country billions of shillings through sports but many do not have access to stadiums for effective and regular training. Sameer Group also said that they will employ local and foreign coaches to identify and develop athletics talent in the country.
The winner for the 21 Km race is to receive a cash price of Kshs 500,00. Registration is on-going at Nandi Tea shop, Nandi County Sports office, AK office in Eldoret and County Sports office in Elgeyo Marakwet, rates being 300/- for the 21km race and 5000/- per group team.