Hundreds of Dar es Salaam residents turned up at the Mlimani City Mall this afternoon to collect their running bibs and kit for the Kilimanjaro Premium Lager International Marathon slated for next week.

The two day exercise is expected to end tomorrow Sunday February 18 at 6pm before moving to Arusha.

The Kilimanjaro International Marathon Event Manager, David Marealle said the exercise has started on a high note and they expect more participants to turn up tomorrow.

He said tickets for the GeeSoseji 5km Fun Run are still on sale and registration is being done online. "Registration for the Kilimanjaro Premium Lager 42 km and igo Kili International Half Marathon was closed early this month after capacity was reached.

He said after Dar es Salaam, the exercise will move to Arusha on Tuesday February 20 and Wednesday February 21 from 2pm to 7 pm at the Kibo Palace Hotel.

"The last collection point will be Moshi on Thursday February 22 (12noon to 5pm), Friday February 23 (10am to 6pm) and Saturday February 24 (from 9am to 5pm) at the Moshi Cooperatives University (MoCU) Stadium," he said.

Meanwhile, the organizers are still warning against those selling numbers online illegally saying that legal action will be taken against them. "This is illegal and we will take legal action against them," said the organizers.

Also targeted are those intending to run with fake numbers as they will be withdrawn from the races, their results nullified and banned from participating in Kilimanjaro International Marathon.

This year's sponsors include Kilimanjaro Premium Lager-42km (Main Sponsor), Tigo- 21km Half Marathon, Gee Soseji- 5Km Fun Run, water table sponsors TPC Sugar, Simba Cement, Kilimanjaro Water, TotalEnergies and CRDB Bank and official partners CMC Automobiles, GardaWorld Tanzania and Salinero Hotel while official suppliers include and Keys Hotel and Kibo Palace Hotel.

Kili Marathon is organised by the Kilimanjaro Marathon Company Limited and nationally coordinated by Executive Solutions Limited.