Tirop’s Angels use Iten-Paris race for GBV awareness

Tirop’s Angels, a foundation created following the murder of Olympian Agnes Tirop to help fight Gender Based Violence (GBV), on Saturday held a 10km Road Race in Iten.

The race, dubbed Iten-Paris 10km was organised by the French Embassy in Kenya in conjunction with the organization and Athletics Kenya and was part of the Embassy's preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Josphat Chumo and Miriam Chebet were crowned winners of the race. Chumo, who is an upcoming athlete won the race in 28:55.2 ahead of Josphat Melly who clocked 29:36.6 while Felix Kurui was third after timing 29:40.7.

"I am happy for the win. I had prepared well and winning has given me more confidence to continue working hard with eyes on making the Kenyan team for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France,” Chumo told Nation Sport. 

In the women's category, Chebet clocked 32:54.6 ahead of Cynthia Chemweno who timed 33:15.8 while Millicent Kemboi clocked 34:05.1 to complete the podium places. 

"My game plan was to stick with the leading pack and then surge after the halfway mark and the strategy worked," offered Chebet. 

Calls for sensitisation of the community continued as Seoul Marathon champion Joan Chelimo, one of the founding members of Tirop's Angels Foundation said they are still working on awareness. 

"GBV affects both men and women. We are still in the introduction process, making sure the community knows what we are doing and what our goal is. There is need for support from various stakeholders to deal with this manace among athletes and in the society and we are working towards that," said Jelimo.

French ambassador to Kenya Aline Kuster-Menager said she was glad to partner with athletics stakeholders adding that the 10km race is just the beginning as more events are in the pipeline ahead of 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.