The 9th edition of the Lewa Safaricom Marathon, deemed to be among the 10 toughest races in the world was once again held at Lewa on Saturday 28th June. The event attracted both local and international running enthusiasts and a huge fan base that came to cheer on their friends and colleagues.

In attendance were over a thousand runners who ran for the cause of conservation and community development. Some ran to win; others ran for fun and many others to break personal records. It was both a success and fun event for all those who participated either by running, sponsoring or in the planning to make sure everything went well.

Of the funds raised this year; 10% of the proceeds will go to The Kenya Red Cross Society to help those who were internally displaced during the political unrest witnessed in our country earlier this year.

The winner of this year's marathon was Benson Kaptikou with a time of 2hrs 21min 39sec, 2 minutes behind last year's winner Cyprian K. Mwobi. In the women's category Emma Muthoni Kiruki set a new record of 2hrs 45min, beating last year's time by 3minutes. The men's half marathon was won by Isaac Kirimi in 1hr 07min 38sec and Alice Wambui Muhoro clinched the women's half marathon in 1hr 19min 56sec, a tight 34 seconds ahead of last years winner and four time Boston marathon winner Catherine Ndereba.

Next years marathon will be held on 27th of June 2009. We encourage you to book early to avoid last minute disappointment as only 750 runners will be registered to run.

As the dust settles at Lewa the wheels of conservation continue to turn. Our Rhino population is thriving; on Sunday 13th July we had a black rhino birth bringing the total to 58 Black Rhino. This year alone there have been five black and four white rhino births within the Conservancy. We invite you to adopt and name any of these calves so please feel free to contact Sarah Nkatha on sarah.nkatha@lewa.org for more information.

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