Lead image for Starehe Boys students cycle 1,000km to raise Sh10m.
When Crispus and Marklus Kazungu learnt to ride a bicycle, they had no idea that they were setting themselves up to secure the future of gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Many years later, when they enlisted for a cycling marathon to raise funds for bright students from disadvantaged backgrounds, the skills the identical twins had acquired in the Malindi countryside came in handy.
While their fellow students returned home for the August holiday, Crispus, Marklus and 11 others from Starehe Boys Centre & School jumped on their mountain bikes. They set off on a 1,000-kilometre journey through 19 counties.
“So far, we have spent 11 days on the road,” the team captain, Leah Stanley Ngugi, said when the Nation team bumped into the young cyclists at Mtito Andei Township in Makueni County,” he said.
“We are cycling from Busia to Mombasa to raise Sh10 million to support bright students from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
Wearing helmets and luminous lime green T-shirts, the riders assume a special formation while on the busy highway to enhance their safety.
Ian Hicho, a professional rider and the technical director of the fundraising project dubbed “Dr Geoffrey Griffin Memorial Bike-a-Thon”, forms a shield between the cyclists and motorists on the highway. The teenagers clock at least 100 kilometres daily.
A key highlight of the cycling marathon is Crispus and Marklus. The Grade 10 students, aged 16 years old, who aspire to become doctors, are fun loving. They kept the team entertained. When they are not leading the team in singing morale-boosting songs, they conduct prayers. Just like most of the riders, the cycling marathon offered them a chance to ride a mountain bicycle.