Kiswaa, Watson reign supreme at Ultra MARAthon in Narok

Benson Matala came home second with a time of 4hours 14minutes 03 seconds.

“I want to thank God for enabling me to defend my title. It was not a walk in the park but I made it. Today the race was a bit tough and I got a lot in the way but I managed to navigate my way. This race brings togetherness in Maasai culture and to nature our community,” said Kiswaa.

In the women's 50km category, Sarah Watson emerged victorious with a time of 5hours 15minutes 45 seconds.

In her debutant race, Watson said she enjoyed the course as she’s looking forward to taking part in next year’s edition.

“I’m really pleased to have won the 50km women’s event. This is my first time at the UltraMARAthon and I loved it, such a beautiful course with incredible wildlife - wildebeest, zebra, topic and even a hyena - and all for a really important cause. I’ll be back!”

In the relays category, debutants Kilima clocked  2:41:17 to emerge victorious followed by Highlands (2:58:23) while Angama finished third in (3:02:55)

In the Rangers category, Mara Elephant Project (MEP) emerged victorious with a time of 3:03:05 thus signifying the great work from men and women in Mara North Conservancy in Narok County.

More than just a race, the UltraMARAthon which is being held annually is a charity-driven initiative aimed at raising funds to support wildlife rangers and bolster community health efforts in the greater Mara ecosystem.

Mara Elephant Project (MEP) Chief Executive Officer Marc Gross hailed this year's event as he says it will contribute significantly in improving the lives of Rangers.

“The Marathon is very important in supporting the rangers, actually they manage the conservancy in Mara and the funding raised from the marathon and the corporate sponsors goes to support those rangers. Also, sports are very important to Rangers because they need to be quick to make sure they are on time every time to protect Kenyan Heritage and Wildlife.”

Susan Wanjiru attached to the Africa Mission Services, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works with rural Maasai communities in Kenya to improve their quality of life through development projects like building schools and clinics, hailed the race saying it has really helped them to impact the community.

“The marathon has really helped us to take care of the community. We are located in a center called Ingos in Narok West are we have primary and secondary schools which impacts students educationally.

“We also have a women's health centre where we help women health wise.  It started as a general clinic but we expanded it to a health center and we offer services to around 1500 people. In a month we get 90-100 visits and the good thing is women can now have been taken care of. 

“Women back then were suffering in acquiring health services but now we thank God that they got help. We admit like 1,000 women per month who deliver their babies and no maternity deaths are reported and that’s a great thing to us.”