The Watamu Sport Festival starts today from Turtle Bay beach and includes running, mountain biking and swimming competitions.
Duathlon (running and mountain biking) and Thriatlon (swimming, mountain biking and running) are the two disciplines for which Watamu has been included in the disciplines valid for the qualifications for the Multisport World Championships to be held next year in Holland.
Among the athletes who will participate in the competitions there will also be the Kenyan twice Olympic champion of 800 meters David Rudisha.
The program includes the thriathlon test with 1 km swimming, 30 km mountain biking and 7 km running, then the Duathlon Sprint (5 km walking, 20 km mountain biking and 2.5 km running) the Duathlon Standard (10 km walking, 40 km mountain biking and 5 km running). The festival also includes the 10 km walk open to all and the picturesque "wife carrying competition", a 250-metre-long waterfront race for men with a woman on her shoulders weighing between 50 and 55 kg. If the weight is lower, the woman must carry a load equivalent to the difference.
Rudisha will take part in the standard duathlon. Race director Vincent Ochieng said that the event aims to promote local sports tourism, of which Watamu is definitely the top destination. In fact, participants in each discipline will pass through the villages and nature that surrounds Watamu and discover the pleasure of practicing sports on the beach, on the roads and in the paths of the coastal town.