Reigning World Cross Country bronze medalist Daniel Simiu Ebenyo will be leading hundreds of athletes set to compete at the penultimate leg of the second season of Betika BingwaFest at the Mumias Sports Complex for the Western Region edition of the competition this weekend.
Ebenyo will line up in the 10,000m and 5,000m races on Saturday as athletics action takes centre stage at the Mumias Sports Complex.
Teams across football, rugby, 3×3 basketball, and athletes across different race disciplines will be out to have a share of the over KES 17 million prize pool up for grabs.
Football action kicked off on Monday, January 19, across different venues, while rugby and basketball are expected to start on Friday at the Bull Ring and Mumias Sports Complex, respectively. All team sports will then converge at the Mumias Sports Complex on Sunday for the finals showdown.
Betika Head of Brand, Eric Mwiti, said: “We are excited to be in Western this weekend as we near the end of the second season. This is a region that remains a hub for top talents, and we are here to give those talents a chance to be seen, while at the same time putting them on the same stage against some of the best talents in the case of athletics. We look forward to an entertaining weekend as we look for the Western Bingwas.”
The second season of the multi-disciplinary sports extravaganza kicked off in August as Nakuru hosted the Rift Valley Region event at the Afraha Stadium before moving to Siaya County for the Nyanza Region leg, then to Machakos County for the Eastern Region chapter followed by a stop in Nairobi, then Meru for the Central Region edition and will wrap up the regional qualifiers at the Coast next month.
Winners in football and rugby, both men and women, will pocket KES 1 million each, while the winning teams in the 3×3 basketball will go home KES 500,000 richer. The first runners-up for football and rugby will be awarded KES 500,000, while the second runners-up are set to receive KES 250,000. In basketball, the teams that finish second and third will take home KES 250,000 and KES 100,000, respectively.
Gold medalists in the lucrative 10,000m will take home KES 300,000, as the first and second runners-up will pocket KES 250,000 and KES 200,000, respectively. The athletes who finish fourth and fifth will round off the prize bracket and will receive KES 100,000 and KES 75,000 in that order.
In the 5,000m category, winners will be 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.
Prizes for the top five in the 100m, 4000m, 800m, and 1,500m will be 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.
Just as in all previous editions, a free medical camp will be held throughout the weekend, offering general consultation services, specialist consultation services, laboratory, and pharmacy services.