The eleventh edition of the Safaricom Lewa Marathon will be held on June 25. Registration is currently underway on a first come first serve basis until April 30 when the exercise will close. While making the announcement yesterday, Safaricom CEO Bobby Collymore also revealed that a total of Sh47 million was realised during last year's event. "This was great improvement from the 2009, where Sh37 million was raised. The improvement was due to the increase in co-sponsors, which has seen the event grow in width and breath over the 11 years since inception," said Collymore.

He said the money shall be handed out as grants to a number of conservation and community development projects in several parts of the country. These include health care, education, irrigation and water projects within the facility's neighbouring communities. Lewa Conservancy CEO Mike Watson said Sh4 million will go towards construction of classrooms and improvement of facilities in four schools in the locality while Sh1.7 million will be used towards the completion of seven development projects already started covering irrigation, water and tree planting. "A further Sh3million has been earmarked to help in the purchase of lifesaving equipment for hospitals in Nanyuki, Meru and Isiolo as well three local clinics," said Watson.