The Rwanda Athletics Federation (RAF) has confirmed that over 10,000 athletes are expected to register to participate in the forthcoming 18th edition of the Kigali International Peace Marathon slated for June 11.
Organizers of the Kigali International Peace Marathon (KIPM) announced that around 2,000 local and foreign athletes completed registration. For the first time, the race will be attended by nine World Marathon Majors athletes.
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"We’re expecting a huge number of athletes to take part in this year’s race. For the first time, we’re hosting nine international athletes which is good for the growth of our tournament,” RAF technical director, John Peter Ndacyayisenga, said.
"We have increased the prizes now that the winner takes around $20,000. This has helped in attracting international athletes and we expect them to keep coming in large numbers in the next editions as we are looking to put our marathon on the world’s major elite marathon list,” he added.
RAF president Lt Col (rtd) Lemuel Kayumba said the preparations of the tournament are in the final stages and encouraged athletes who have not yet registered to do so earlier to prevent last-minute problems.
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"Almost everything is ready to start the tournament, that’s why we are encouraging athletes to register early. From past experience we have learnt that people start registering in the last three days before the marathon begins which is what we don’t encourage anyone due to the large number of people who want to participate in the race,” said Kayumba.
According to RAF which organizes the annual event, overall winners of the full marathon, in both male and female categories, will bag $20,000 (over Rwf22 million) up from last year's $4,000 (Rwf4,000,000).
The first and second runners-up will this year take home $15,000 (over Rwf16,800,000 million) and $7,500 (over Rwf8,500,000), respectively, up from last year's Rwf2,500,000 and Rwf2,000,000.
The prize money for the fourth and fifth-ranked athletes in the full marathon increased by $5,000 (over Rwf 5,600,000) and $3,000 (over Rwf 3,400,000), respectively, up from last year's Rwf1,500,000 and Rwf1,000,000.
"KIPM is now the third most expensive tournament behind Nairobi and Lagos Marathon and our aim is to have the best tournament on the continent,” Kayumba said.
"Although we’ve made this progress, we’re still facing financial problems to organize a tournament which matches the standard of the tournament we want. But we hope that we will overcome the issue in the coming years through the measures we are taking,” he further noted.
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A group of 21 athletes who will represent Rwanda at the annual competition are undergoing intensive preparations in Gicumbi district. There are six athletes in the men’s half marathon, six in the women’s half marathon, six in the men’s full marathon, and three in the women’s full marathon.
First held in 2005, the event is an annual running competition in the marathon and half marathon distances usually held in Kigali.
In 2021, the marathon was awarded a World Athletics Label, an award that recognizes high standards in event organization, safety and runner experience as well as the application of the World Athletics rules and regulations.
The label also categorizes elite competitions with implications on ranking points available to international elite athletes and Olympics and World Championships qualification slots offered by the highest categorized competitions.