Christmas Eve, the day of giving gifts to friends and family and the day of the annual 5k race in Iten for girls and women. The race is arranged by an English gentleman named Toby Tanser in the name of his charity organization Shoe4Africa. The day before race day we handed out wristbands that the lucky could change for a bright yellow shirt with a number attached. Five hundred or so were the lucky girls and women to take part in the race. Every finisher of the race were later allowed to take part in a lottery where most participants won a pair of shoes. The shoes given out was donated from people all over the world.
Starter of the race this year was Abel Kirui, two time world champion and Olympic silver medalist in marathon. The pack took off and the winner was crossing the finish line 16-17 minutes later after ending the hilly loop. Everyone crossing the finish line was given a bottle of water and entrance to HATC pool area where hundreds of pairs of shoes was waiting on the pool side. Conductor of the lottery was Mary Keitany, two time winner of both London and NYC marathon.
In August 2015 Toby and Shoe4Africa officially opened the first public hospital for children in East Africa.
"On August the 12th Shoe4Africa handed over a landmark building: East
& Central Africa's first dedicated public children's hospital
presented to the people of Kenya. The journey started back in 2008, on
March 17th, after the post-election violence in Kenya. I thought the
project would take a year, at the most. However the work was much more
than I expected; months rolled into years. One meeting would turn into a
series, set backs followed set backs. The start of fund raising
was a disaster with all my leads dissolving. Team building, vetting,
chasing leads, hunting funding, attending events, writing letters,
putting business practice into place… all these things and more made my
‘life’ turn into a one directional quest. A quest to give the children
of East Africa a ‘home’ of dedicated pediatric health."
Toby Tanser (src: facebook)
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| Shirts to handout |
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| Exchanging wristbands for race shirts |
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| Busy morning at Iten Club |
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| Race organizer Toby |
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| Helping is fun |
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| Not all waiting at the gate where having wristband |
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| Waiting |
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| Hoping |
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| Getting |
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| Toby and race director Timo |
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| Mary Keitany gets shirts for her daughters |
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| Part of the crew |
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| The details, it is all about the details |
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| Race director and Finnish marathon runner Anne-Marie |
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| Wristband coming through |
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| Swedish ultrarunner Markus and race starter Abel Kirui |
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| Getting ready for the race |
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| American track runner Russel keeping the rythm |
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| The race is on |
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| Mexican track runner Dan and Italian marathoner Roland official finish line directors |
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| Winner |
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| First runner up |
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| Second runner up |
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| Even Kenyans sometimes gets tired from running |
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| Television and radio covers the Shoe4Africa event |
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| A champion in front of the arch of champions |
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| Hanging around after the race waiting for the shoe lottery |
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| Andhina from Indonesia and German marathoner Oliver |
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| Around 500 girls and women finished the race |
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| A great race for Iten |
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| American marathoner Craig and British track runner Alan getting the numbers for the lottery |
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| Some enjoy the race to the fullest |
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| Preparing for the lottery by the pool at HATC |
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| David and Roland bringing more shoes |
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| Craig and German marathon runner Katrin watching over nearly 500 pair of shoes |
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| The finishers arrive... |
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| ...and the lottery begin |
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| Very happy winner dancing and smiling |
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| Athletes staying at HATC and from Iten manages the lottery |
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| Nearly 500 numbers to be drawn |
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| There are plenty of shoes to choose from |
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| All women and girls waiting patiently |
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| Mary and her friends did a great job picking all numbers |
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| Lucky number? |
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| Waiting and hoping |
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| The lottery took approximately three hours |
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| Big smiles from the winners |
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| Almost every finisher got a pair of shoes |
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| Meanwhile in the gym, Dennis Kimetto preparing for next season |
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| The day ended with a 'julfika' with glögg, pepparkakor and more at Camilla´s and Markus´s little house |
Tack for hjalpen under dagen Patrick! Och for den snygg foto. Toby
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