By OUR CORRESPONDENT
Former 3000m World U20 champion Teresiah Muthoni Gateri won gold in the women’s 1500m as the BingwaFest Coast edition athletics showdown unfolded at the Shanzu Teachers Training College on Wednesday, February 19th.
Muthoni clocked 4:18.2 to finish first ahead of Nancy Jepkemei and Alposina Manani to take home KES 150,000, as Jepkemei took home KES 100,000 while Manani won KES 60,000. The men’s race saw Larry Melvin, Festus Kiprop, and Victor Kipkirui make the podium in that order.
In the much anticipated lucrative 10,000m, Shadrack Ngumbau stormed to victory in 29:34,5 ahead of Ezra Chelimo and Benson Moshon.
In the women’s race, Diana Chepkorir clocked 35:03.6 to finish first as Debora Chemutai and Diana Wanza came home second and third respectively.
Following their wins, the gold medalists over the 10,000m took home KES 300,000 as the first and second runners pocketed KES 250,000 and KES 200,000 respectively. The athletes who finished fourth and fifth rounded off the prize bracket and received KES 100,000 and KES 75,000 in that order.
The women’s 100m saw Monicah Saphania edge out Amutavi Laveta and Ivon Mwangala after cutting the tape in 11.9 seconds as Robinson Motende ruled the men’s race ahead of Charles Nyamwea and Moses Wasike,
Athletics, one of the four disciplines in the BingwaFest sports extravaganza, did not take place alongside football, basketball, and rugby earlier this month as is the norm as it was pushed forward to allow the National Cross-Country Championship, which Betika sponsors, take place.
In the women’s 400m, Hellen Syombua won ahead of Brivian Nelima and African Championships bronze medalist in the 4x400m relay Joan Cherono who finished third. In the men’s race, 2024 4×400 Metres Relay African Champion David Sanyek finished first ahead of Prison’s teammate Nathaniel Kipngetich and Elijah Matayo.
In the 5,000m category, Diana Jepkorir finished first as Fridah Ndinda and Faith Cherono finished second and third in the women’s race as Festus Kiprop triumphed in the men’s with Victor Kipkirui and Bernard Kikumbi coming home second and third. Winners in this category were awarded KES 250,000, second-place finishers KES 150,000, third-place KES 100,000, fourth-place KES 50,000, and fifth-place KES 30,000.
Betika Brand Manager Erick Mwiti said: “We appreciate the enthusiasm and patience of the athletes and fans of athletics at the BingwaFest Coast Edition as this had to take place almost two weeks after the other events took place. While the delay was unexpected, we are committed to ensuring a seamless experience for all and we were happy to see the huge turnout today. We remain dedicated to supporting athletics and providing a platform for Kenyan talent to shine. Next on the calendar is the Nairobi edition and we hope to see a similar turnout.”
Prizes for the top five in the 100m, 4000m, 800m, and 1,500m were the same, with gold medalists receiving KES 150,000, silver medalists KES 100,000, and bronze medalists KES 60,000. The fourth and fifth place finishers will pocket KES 30,000 and KES 20,000.
The 4×400 and 4×100 relays saw winning teams awarded KES 100,000, as position two and three receive KES 60,000 and KES 30,000 respectively.
The other disciplines took place just over a week ago, with winners in football and rugby pocketing KES 1 million each while the winning teams in the 3×3 basketball went home KES 500,000 richer. The first runners-up for football and rugby were awarded KES 500,000 while the second runners-up rounded off the prize category and received KES 250,000. In basketball, the teams that finished second and third took home KES 250,000 and KES 100,000 respectively.
BingwaFest has so far transversed six regions namely; Western Region edition held in Mumias in August, Nyanza Edition hosted in Kisumu in September, which was followed by the Eastern Region chapter in October at Machakos, the Rift Valley edition at Eldoret in December 2024, and recently the Mountain Edition in Meru last month, and now the Coast Edition in Mombasa with Nairobi set as the next stop.
