Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro says the return of the National Motocross Championship to the region will play an integral role in marketing Sports tourism in Kilifi.
Mungaro made the remarks when he flagged off this year’s Round 5 of the National Motorcross competition at Vipingo Ridge in Kilifi County.
Mung’aro said the championship will attract Sports tourists to Kilifi and also develop sports in the county.
“I have said this several times that we want to go big on sports tourism and Vipingo Ridge Iis supplementing our efforts big time. Recently we had a big Golf tournament here and today we are hosting this sporting activity in the same facility. As I stated earlier in my programs, one of the key areas is to see how we can use this new frontier as a tourism sector development. Our hotels have recorded good bookings in the recent days because of sports. This is what we want to highly focus on,” he said.
Former National MX champion Torben Rune said the establishment of the track spells good tidings for the sport at large.
‘We are looking forward to hosting the National Motocross Championships for the second time. It is our hope that new tracks like this across the country will help grow Motocross in Kenya and bring its excitement to an even bigger audience,” he said.
Vipingo Ridge chairman Alistair Cavenagh reckoned the championship was important as it reinforces the regions place as choice for the motocross
“The race was deemed a significant step in creating nationwide participation for the sport and the races included were in different categories including MX Peewee, MX50, MX 65, MX 84, MX125, MX1 and MX Vets.The National Motocross Championships popular racing series began in the 1950s and continues to thrive,” Cavenagh said.
The National Motocross Championship was returning to Vipingo Ridge following the successful hosting of last year’s event after 16 years.
The event was organized in partnership with Vipingo Ridge, Motorcycle Federation of Kenya, and the Mombasa Motor Club.
