Kenyan tourism officials are inviting Canadians planning to enter marathons to lace up their runners in a country where they may find themselves standing alongside a local at a starting line who hasn’t received widespread recognition but may be destined to become a household name in running circles.

A Kenya Tourism Board event in Toronto had board marketing officer Zablon Mwangi pointed to his country’s domination of distance running. “Kenya is the home of champions,” he told his audience. “In Kenya, you can come to run a marathon and be guaranteed to run with a champion.”

Mwanga — who last year ran a half-marathon and plans to enter a full one — said his homeland hosts several marathons, including the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon, which last drew over 20,000 entrants, many of them young Kenyans who have yet to make their mark in international circles but who may well be headed for running greatness.

Another option is the Lewa Safari Marathon, which takes place entirely in northern Kenya’s Lewa Nature Conservancy, and bills itself as the Wildest Challenge. The race, which has grown from 180 entries in its 2000 debut to having over 1,200 participants now, attracts participants from around the world wanting to run through the wildlife conservancy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Organizers say the competition has “participants share the reserve with several large African predators including lion, leopard, hyena and wild dog. This marathon is notoriously one of the world’s most challenging and rewarding. Set on the conservancy’s dirt roads the route takes runners across savannah plains, along river banks and through acacia woodland.”

Mwangi noted the course enables ongoing sightings of the types of wildlife that are at the core of Kenyan tourism. Officials have also for several years been inviting foreign runners eager to improve their race times to attend Kenyan camps run by Kenyan Olympic medalists.

Canada, with its large running community, is seen as an attractive market for Kenya.

Anthony Brinn of Kenya Airways said that the airline is eager to tap into the running community, stating that runners eager to improve their times would be well-served by training at camps overseen by Kenyan running greats. “They’ll train with the Kenya) runners, run with the Kenyan runners, do as they do,” he said. “We think there’s a huge demand for that. What better way to do it (lower race times) than be there with them and learn what makes them successful.”

The tourism board’s Sandy Nerlich — also on hand in Toronto — suggested that the Lewa marathon amounts to a mini-safari in a country that first gave the world the safari. “There are zebras on the course while you’re running.”

And she suggested running a marathon in Lewa or Nairobi or elsewhere in the homeland of many Olympic greats would be memorable.

“I think it would certainly give you bragging rights to say you ran a marathon in Kenya,” she says, noting the country’s great running history. Kenyans win marathons.”