Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:43 pm
Reigning Warsaw Marathon winner Gilbert Masai is crying for justice after losing over Sh200,000 to unscrupulous race organisers, who have declined to pay him all winning prizes.
The Mount Elgon-born runner said he has been living a poor life, thanks to some people, who take advantage of the weak system in the country to exploit unsuspecting runners.
Masai won the 2015 Great Green Half and finished second at the Lari Half Marathon the same year. However, over five years since the races were held, he is yet to be paid his money.
He was supposed to earn Sh150,000 from his victory at the Great Green race and Sh75,000 from his second place finish in Lari Half Marathon.
“ If I had been paid the money, I would be a different person today. if I invested this money in a project five years ago, I could be living a better life. But because I spent, expecting to earn on my investment, I now suffer because of the weak system in the country,” claimed Masai.
Besides, Masai was not able to defend his title in Warsaw owing to the coronavirus hence complicating matters further for him. “I was to defend my title in March but it was postponed. This season, I only paced at Xiamen Marathon in January and since that time, I have had no race,” he added.
He said the organisers of both the Lari and Great Green races have gone mute on the athletes’ cry. ” I have tried to follow up on the matter without much success,” he added. We reported the issue at Kiambu Police Station but we were told, the guys were out of the country. We reported the same to Athletics Kenya but nothing came forth,” added Masai.
(TheStar)
