Nairobi City Marathon 2027: Complete Race Guide

There is exactly one major marathon in the world that runs on an elevated motorway suspended above a capital city. That is the Nairobi City Marathon. Below you, as you cross the 10th kilometre on the Nairobi Expressway, is the whole spread of East Africa’s most dynamic city — the towers of Upper Hill, the green patches of Uhuru Park and the endless low sprawl reaching toward the Ngong Hills. Your legs are dealing with altitude at 1,650 metres above sea level. Your lungs are working harder than the cool morning air suggests. And the Expressway is humming under your feet with a smoothness that makes the first half feel much easier than it really is.

The Nairobi City Marathon was born in May 2022 under the name Uhuru Classic, flagged off by President Uhuru Kenyatta on the newly completed Expressway before a single paying car had used it. That debut set the tone for an event that has grown faster than almost any other urban marathon in recent memory: 10,000 runners in year one, 17,450 by the fifth edition in 2026, with registration selling out in under three weeks. The prize structure is the other defining statement. At KES 3.5 million per gender winner — paying all the way down to 20th place — the NCM is Africa’s richest road race. The winner here takes home more than the winner of October’s Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon, which has been running since 2003.

The 2027 edition — the sixth — is set for Sunday, 6 June. Based on the 2026 route, the course starts from City Hall in the Nairobi CBD, threads through landmark streets including Kenyatta Avenue past the Hilton Hotel, rises onto the Expressway and then commits to approximately 33 kilometres of elevated asphalt before dropping back into the city for the final run to Uhuru Park. June in Nairobi is the sweet spot: the long rains are done, mornings are cool and overcast and altitude’s effect on your cardiovascular system is at least not compounded by heat. What you get is a fast course by African altitude standards, demanding by global standards and unlike anything else on the marathon calendar.

Who should run the Nairobi City Marathon? International runners who want East Africa’s most distinctive city marathon experience. Kenyan club runners and elite athletes targeting the largest prize purse available at home. Anyone who wants the urban energy of a city marathon rather than the game-park solitude of October’s Southern Bypass route. And any runner who wants to be part of a story that is still in its early chapters.

Nairobi City Marathon 2027: Race at a Glance

Nairobi City Marathon 2027 Registration

Registration for the 2027 edition has not opened as of October 2026. Based on past editions, the registration window typically opens between March and May and closes well before race day — the 2026 edition sold out in under three weeks. Once entries open they move fast. Monitor the official website at nairobicitymarathon.com and the official Facebook page from March 2027. Registration runs through Chronorace with separate portals for Local/EAC and International participants.

Entry fees below are based on 2025/2026 pricing and are indicative for 2027 until the official portal opens with confirmed rates.

What Makes the Nairobi City Marathon Worth Running?

Running in the Sky — The World’s Only Elevated Expressway Marathon

The defining feature of the Nairobi City Marathon is not the prize money or the altitude or the elite field. It is the road. The Nairobi Expressway is an elevated toll motorway that runs from the western suburbs through the city at height, giving runners an aerial perspective of Nairobi that no spectator, no bus passenger and no driver on the roads below ever sees. From up on the Expressway you are looking down over neighbourhoods, across rooftops and out toward a city horizon that stretches further than you expect. You are not running through a city. You are running above it.

The inaugural 2022 edition ran on the Expressway before a single paying car had used it. Athletes got first access to the city’s most ambitious infrastructure project. That precedent tells you something about the race’s ambition and its relationship with Nairobi.

Africa’s Largest Marathon Prize Purse

The Nairobi City Marathon pays KES 3,500,000 to the men’s and women’s 42km winner and continues paying all the way to 20th place in each gender category. The total race-day prize pot runs to approximately KES 24 million across all categories. For context: the winner here takes home more than the winner of the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon (KES 2 million) or most other African road races outside the Lagos City Marathon. For elite and sub-elite athletes, the NCM is a serious financial target and the depth of payment — 20 positions deep — keeps a large portion of the elite field invested all the way to the finish.

A Fast Enough Course to Chase Times At Altitude

Despite 279m of total elevation gain and 1,650m of altitude throughout, the Nairobi City Marathon consistently produces competitive times. The 2025 men’s winning time was 2:08:36 (Benson Murkomen) and in 2026 Joy Kemuma won the women’s race in 2:27:43 — credible performances at altitude by any standard. For recreational runners, the altitude adjustment is real (expect 8–12% slower than your sea-level best) but June’s cool overcast mornings partly offset the thin-air penalty. If you know the course and pace correctly, this is a more reasonable time-chasing venue than its altitude would suggest.

Nairobi CBD at Dawn — A Course With Genuine Character

The opening kilometres through the Nairobi CBD are unlike any other section of marathon running in Kenya. The race starts in the early morning on closed city streets — Kenyatta Avenue, Moi Avenue, Haile Selassie Avenue — with Nairobi’s towers forming the backdrop as the city wakes. The crowd concentration is highest here and the noise before the course swings onto the Expressway ramp is genuinely electric. For international runners visiting Kenya for the first time, this is Nairobi at its most alive, experienced from street level at 6:45 in the morning with 17,000 other runners.

Two Nairobi Marathons, One City: How the NCM Differs from the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon

Nairobi hosts two major marathons each year and they are fundamentally different events. Knowing the difference matters for planning your trip and understanding what kind of race you are entering.

The choice between the two comes down to what you want from Nairobi: city skyline and Expressway novelty in June or wildlife-park dawn and 23 years of history in October. Both races finish near the same Nairobi landmark and share the same altitude. They share nothing else. Read our complete Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon guide if you are considering October’s race.

The Course — Segment by Segment

Km 0–6: City Hall Through the CBD

The gun fires at 6:45 AM from City Hall and the opening kilometres run through closed city streets at first light. This is some of the most atmospheric marathon running in Kenya: Kenyatta Avenue, Moi Avenue and Haile Selassie Avenue are empty of traffic but lined with supporters, and the Nairobi skyline transitions from pre-dawn orange to morning grey as 17,000 runners pour through the city centre together.

The crowd support peaks here. Spectators stack up on the CBD pavements and the noise is substantial. This is also the most dangerous section of the race for recreational runners. The combination of fresh legs, crowd energy and smooth city streets produces splits that feel entirely sustainable and are not. The altitude at 1,650 metres is not punishing you yet. It will.

After the CBD loop — past the Kencom bus terminal, International House and the Hilton Hotel — the course threads toward the Expressway on-ramp at Bunyala Road. This transition at around km 5–6 marks the moment the race changes character. The crowd thins, the road rises onto the elevated structure and the city drops away below you.

Km 6–20: The Expressway Heading West

This is the stretch most runners have signed up to experience. The Expressway is wide, smooth and completely closed to vehicles. Looking out from the elevated road over Nairobi’s rooftop sprawl at dawn is one of the more distinctive things you can do with a marathon entry. The views west toward Westlands and the Karura Forest canopy open up progressively as the Expressway curves above the city.

The surface here is deceptively fast. The overhead perspective, the quiet away from street-level noise and the uninterrupted asphalt make the pace feel easier than it is. There are subtle gradient shifts as the Expressway rises and falls between its support structures — these do not appear on the elevation chart but they accumulate in your legs. The first major turning point comes near the James Gichuru Road interchange, at approximately the 15–18km mark, where the Expressway reaches its western terminus.

Km 20–35: The Long Return Eastward

After the western turn the course heads back east and eventually southeast along the Expressway. This is where the race becomes a proper test of preparation. The cool dawn air has warmed. The crowd support is gone — there are no spectators on the elevated Expressway. Your legs are carrying 25km of altitude-taxed running and the Expressway’s exposed surface offers no shade and no shelter from headwind. The subtle undulations that felt trivial in the first half feel pronounced now.

This is also where the gap between a well-paced race and a badly-paced one becomes visible. Runners who went through the CBD at sea-level marathon pace are starting to break down. Runners who adjusted 8–12% for altitude are still moving. The km 28–35 stretch — elevated, exposed, quiet and long — is the defining section of the Nairobi City Marathon for recreational runners.

Km 35–42: Off the Expressway to Uhuru Park

The course exits the Expressway and drops back onto city streets for the final push to Uhuru Park. The descent from the elevated structure to ground level brings a brief surge of crowd noise and spectators after the long quiet of the back stretch. City streets complete the remaining kilometres to the finish. The finish area at Uhuru Park — the historic green space where Kenya’s independence flag was first raised on 12 December 1963 — is warm and open to the public. Prize presentations for top finishers take place here.

Race Strategy: How to Run the Nairobi City Marathon

Race Weekend Schedule

The following programme is based on the 2026 edition pattern. Confirm the exact 2027 schedule on the official website once the new edition is announced.

Expo and Packet Pickup

Weather: What to Expect on Race Day

June is the best month in Nairobi’s calendar for marathon conditions. The long rains end in May and the short rains do not arrive until October, leaving a dry, cool window that makes early June genuinely good for fast running at altitude. Race morning typically dawns overcast — which helps considerably, keeping direct sun off the Expressway for the first two or three hours. The one condition that does not show in standard forecasts: wind on the elevated Expressway can be meaningfully stronger than ground-level conditions suggest. The road is exposed at height and a headwind on the return leg between km 25 and km 35 adds real time. Dress in a light technical singlet, plan for the 10-degree temperature swing from start to mid-morning and use the cooler early kilometres to lock in conservative, altitude-appropriate pacing.

Prize Money and Elite Information

Past Results — Defending Champions

* The 2023 edition produced course records in both the men’s and women’s 42km categories, improving on the inaugural 2022 times. Exact verified times to be confirmed from official Chronorace timing records — the NCM results database is available at nairobicitymarathon.com. No runner has successfully defended a title at the Nairobi City Marathon across five editions — a new champion has been crowned every year since 2022.

Spectator Guide: Best Places to Watch

Where to Stay for the Nairobi City Marathon

For race logistics, the CBD cluster is your best option. City Hall is the start and Uhuru Park is the finish — both within 1km of the Hilton, the Stanley and the Serena. You can walk to the start on race morning with no transport stress. The Nairobi Serena has the additional advantage of sitting next to the Uhuru Park finish, making it a genuinely convenient base for both ends of the race. If you are based in Westlands, plan around the Saturday night Expressway closure — your race-morning transfer will use Waiyaki Way or Uhuru Highway.

International Runners: Visa and Travel to Nairobi

A Short History of the Nairobi City Marathon

The Nairobi City Marathon has been a race in a hurry from the moment it started. The inaugural edition — branded as the Uhuru Classic — launched on 8 May 2022 from Nyayo National Stadium, flagged off by outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta. The defining move of that first race was the course: 33 kilometres on the newly completed Nairobi Expressway, run before a single paying vehicle had ever used it. Athletes got first access to the city’s most ambitious infrastructure project. Brimin Misoi won the men’s race in 2:08:30 and Agnes Barsosio took the women’s title in 2:24:45, with both picking up from a prize pool of KES 44.8 million — the largest single-race purse in African road running history at the time. The prize structure has since been rationalised to the current KES 3.5 million per winner, which remains Africa’s highest and has been paid consistently across every edition.

Each subsequent year has brought a new champion and a refined course. The 2023 second edition moved to Douglas Wakiihuri Road (formerly Aerodrome Road) as its start, snaking through the CBD and producing course records in both the men’s and women’s fields. The 2024 third edition shifted the start and finish to Uhuru Park with 15,000 participants. By 2025, the fourth edition at Uhuru Park drew 16,000 runners from 75 countries with Benson Murkomen winning in 2:08:36 — narrowly missing the men’s course record. In 2026, the fifth edition moved the start to City Hall, grew to 17,450 participants and sold out its registration in under three weeks. No runner has successfully defended a title across five editions: a new champion has been crowned every year, which says something about the depth and competitiveness of a field that is growing in international breadth alongside its local strength.

The organisers have been explicit about their ambitions: they want the Nairobi City Marathon to rival the World Marathon Majors. The gap between that aspiration and today’s reality remains significant. The race does not yet hold a World Athletics Road Race Label. Its history spans five years, not five decades. But the trajectory is notable — 10,000 to 17,000 runners in five editions, 75 countries represented, sub-2:09 men’s winning times at altitude and a prize structure that keeps attracting serious elite talent. The sixth edition in June 2027 adds another chapter to a story that is genuinely still being written.

Related Race Guides

• Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon Guide — Kenya’s World Athletics Label flagship race in October on the Southern Bypass, with Nairobi National Park at the fence
• Two Oceans Ultra Marathon Guide — South Africa’s iconic 56km ultra in Cape Town
• Cape Town Marathon Guide — Africa’s only World Athletics Platinum Label road race
• Great Ethiopian Run Guide — 40,000 runners at altitude through Addis Ababa