A few hours before the queen of England could press the red button to begin the London marathon; the deputy president of Kenya was the first one to aim his gun towards the sky and fired it to set off the inaugural Eldoret City marathon here in Uasin Gishu at exactly 8:00 in the morning. The women's race had been started 30 minutes earlier. Both the organizers of the Eldoret city marathon were eager to finish the race in time to watch the start of the London Marathon.
Touted as the richest marathon in Kenya and being held at the heart of the athletics community in Kenya, the Eldoret City marathon attracted one of the most competitive fields ever assembled in any marathon race anywhere.