Eldoret City Marathon fights back: Race officials deny mismanagement as calendar war with Athletics Kenya deepens

A bitter dispute between one of Kenya’s most prominent road races and the country’s athletics governing body is threatening to derail the sport months before a critical election year

By Martin Weche

Organisers of the Eldoret City Marathon yesterday rejected accusations of financial mismanagement and alleged the race’s exclusion from Athletics Kenya’s official calendar was an act of institutional revenge, escalating a confrontation that now threatens to overshadow Kenyan road racing in the run-up to the August 2027 general election.

In a strongly worded statement, the organisers described the financial allegations circulating against them as false and defamatory, insisting that every aspect of the marathon’s management had been conducted transparently and in accordance with the law. “The organisers of the Eldoret City Marathon wish to address false allegations and misleading rumours regarding the financial management of the marathon,” the statement read. “We maintain complete transparency, legal compliance, and dedication to the welfare of athletes and vendors.”

The organisers were emphatic that government sponsorship funds had never passed through private accounts. Under World Athletics regulations, Athletics Kenya road running rules and public finance law, they said, such funds are managed through statutory channels and remain fully auditable. All payment trails, audit records and banking workflows, they insisted, are open and verifiable by any legitimate authority.

They did, however, acknowledge one uncomfortable truth: prize money payments to race winners have sometimes been delayed. “Delayed payment cycles — while regrettable — are common across Kenyan road races operating within statutory public fund disbursement timelines,” the statement conceded, adding that the marathon has never formally defaulted on athlete payouts across any of its seven editions.

The statement arrived a day after race director Moses Tanui and fellow officials went public with what they described as the deliberate exclusion of the Eldoret City Marathon from the 2026/27 Athletics Kenya calendar. Tanui, a two-time Boston Marathon champion whose name carries significant weight in Kenyan athletics, did not mince his words. The officials attributed the exclusion directly to malice within Athletics Kenya’s leadership, linking it to the marathon’s vocal advocacy for constitutional reform within the federation — a position that appears to have made powerful enemies.

The timing is significant. Kenya is entering a charged political season, with the August 2027 general election already reshaping alliances, loyalties and institutional behaviour across the country. Sports governance has rarely been immune to political pressure in Kenya, and the Eldoret City Marathon dispute carries unmistakable echoes of that dynamic. Athletics Kenya, like many national federations, operates within a political ecosystem where personal relationships, factional rivalries and electoral calculations frequently influence decisions that are presented as administrative.

Eldoret, the heartland of Kenyan long-distance running, is also politically strategic territory. The North Rift region commands enormous symbolic and electoral weight, and any perception that its flagship sporting event is being marginalised by Nairobi-based administrators risks inflaming sentiments that politicians on all sides will be watching carefully. Sport, in this context, is never merely sport.

The seven-year-old marathon has established itself as a credible fixture on the domestic road racing circuit, providing competitive opportunities for athletes and economic activity for vendors, service providers and the wider Eldoret economy. Its removal from the official calendar does not merely inconvenience organisers — it strips the event of the regulatory legitimacy that attracts sponsors, qualifies athletes for rankings and ensures prize money attracts top-tier fields.

Athletics Kenya has yet to issue a formal public response to the specific allegations made by the marathon’s officials. The silence is conspicuous. If the exclusion was indeed motivated by the organisers’ push for constitutional reform within the federation, it would represent a troubling precedent — one in which institutional power is used to suppress internal dissent rather than address legitimate governance concerns.

For Kenya’s road running community, which remains one of the country’s most visible and commercially viable sporting assets, the dispute sends an uncomfortable signal at the worst possible moment. With sponsors, broadcasters and international partners watching, the last thing Kenyan athletics needs is a public governance crisis playing out against the backdrop of an election year.

The Eldoret City Marathon says its books are open. Athletics Kenya must now explain its calendar.

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