The marathoner, Eluid Kipchoge, has undertaken, in his own way, to address the Covid-19 pandemic and its ravages particularly amongst sportsmen and women. For several days, supported by the Kenyan Ministry of Sport, he distributed relief food to vulnerable athletes in many localities in his country. In the North Rift Region alone, some 59 athletes received donations from the Olympic marathon champion through his Eliud Kipchoge Foundation. The world marathon record holder was chosen by the Minister of Sport as ambassador for the relief project to motivate and lend a hand to athletes who lost huge income as a result of the cancellation of races while covid-19 ravages on. The food was donated by the Ministry and well-wishers, including the Hindu Council of Kenya. The packages handed to every athlete contained, amongst others, corn and wheat flour, rice, cooking oil and pasta.
As he distributing food to athletes, Kipchoge urged others to assist the ministry by lending a hand to the most vulnerable athletes who, according to him, number more than 2,000: “Up to 80 percent of athletes depend on races inEurope, Asia and other parts of the world and I would like to urge other corporates to come up and support them at this hard time,” declared Kipchonge. “They depend on races to put food on the table and this has become difficult for many because the entire season has been cancelled,’’ he concluded.