Sierra Leone celebrates first marathon winnerBy KEMO CHAM in Freetown | Tuesday, June 12  2012 at  12:37

Twenty three-year-old Iddrissa Kargo is the winner of Sierra Leonean's first ever marathon race.

Kargo beat 400 others from around the world to win the 10 kilometre run in 2 hrs 46.46 minutes.

Timothy Kelsey from the UK was second in the Saturday event organised to raise funds for Sierra Leone’s street children.

The competition brought together participants from the US, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Dubbed, Run for their lives marathon, the event took place in Makeni, 137 kilometres east of the country’s capital Freetown.

It was organised by the NGO, Street Children of Sierra Leone, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs.

According to the organisers, apart from raising money for various programmes, the marathon was intended to highlight the plight of 40,000 children living in the streets of the country recovering from war.

Sierra Leone Minister of Defence, Major (rtd) Palo Conteh (rtd), ran five of the 10 kilometres.   

A report by Help a Needy Child International - Sierra Leone, in April, put the population of homeless children in the country at 49,698.