Former Kenya Pipeline Company Managing Director Joe Sang has completed his local preparations for Sydney Marathon in Australia, where he will combine his passion for running with efforts to raise education funds for vulnerable Kenyan children.
Sang, who will compete in his third World Marathon Major, is supporting 10 bright but underprivileged children through the Joe Sang Foundation. The foundation has also ventured into education infrastructure, recently completing a modern classroom at a primary school in Kitui County. The facility will be officially opened next month when schools resume for the third term.
“We are currently supporting 10 children across Kenya, including a bright boy at Lenana School and another who qualified for university. We are also supporting a young girl from Samburu,” explained Sang after his final long training run in Karen, Nairobi.
He said the foundation realised that paying school fees alone was insufficient where children studied in poor conditions.
“That is why we are investing in infrastructure. We have just completed a classroom in Kitui. Our objective is to transform education through tuition, uniforms and facilities that provide children with a dignified learning environment,” he added.
Sang made his World Marathon Majors debut at the 2024 Chicago Marathon in the USA, finishing in three hours and seven minutes, before improving to 3:00:57 at last year’s Berlin Marathon in Germany.
Joining him in Sydney will be East African Breweries Limited General Manager for Spirits Alvin Mbugua and businessman John Terer of Car City dealership. Terer also ran alongside Sang in Chicago and Berlin, while Mbugua, himself a former scholarship beneficiary, is committed to helping the foundation support vulnerable youth.
Funds raised in Sydney will help finance the next batch of secondary-school scholarships, with the foundation targeting to double its beneficiaries by 2027, particularly amid economic hardships affecting families in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands in Kenya such as Samburu.
Unlike the flat, fast Chicago and Berlin courses, Sydney offers a tougher test featuring rolling hills, sharp turns and a demanding finish across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Sang prepared by training on the hilly Ngong terrain.
He will line up alongside global stars, including reigning world marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir and iconic athlete Vivian Cheruiyot from Kenya.
Sang hopes the Sydney challenge will showcase how sport can support sustainable social development and help secure the future of Kenya’s children, one mile at a time.
