The Kaptagat Integrated Conservation Programme (KICP) has emerged as one of Kenya’s most successful examples of how environmental conservation can be driven by community empowerment, transforming livelihoods while restoring one of the country’s most critical water towers.
The programme focuses on the restoration of the Kaptagat Forest, a vital section of the Cherangani Hills Water Tower whose rivers feed both the Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana basins.
Years of forest degradation, driven by illegal logging, charcoal burning, unsustainable grazing and encroachment, had threatened biodiversity, water security and local livelihoods.
To leverage the status of the Kaptagat forest, the programme has resorted to activities that encourage restoration of degraded forest areas.
Among them are the Kaptagat Forest Cycling Challenge. The Challenge has quickly become one of Kenya’s most prominent events in the sporting calendar, bridging elite cycling talent with the active restoration of the Cherangani Hills Water Tower.
The 2026 Edition, which is the Fourth Edition, kicks off on 4 July in Kaptagat Forest, Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Organised by the Kaptagat Integrated Conservation Programme (KICP) and championed by its patron, National Treasury Principal Secretary Dr. Chris Kiptoo, this year’s event coincides with nearly a decade of intense community-led conservation milestones in the region.
The 2026 challenge, which will run over an approximately 80 km stretch in the lush green forest, will offer collective prize money up to Ksh 4,000,000.
The winners of both elite and para cyclists for men and women will take home a total of Ksh. 200,000 each.
“Cyclists compete for prize money that advances their sporting careers while, at the same time, helping to restore one of Kenya’s most important water towers and strengthen the livelihoods of the communities that protect it,” Ciarán Fitzpatrick, Race Director, Kaptagat Cycling Challenge, highlighted.
The Kaptagat Forest Cycling Challenge runs on the spirit: A race where every ride grows a forest, every forest transforms lives, and every cyclist becomes part of a lasting conservation legacy.
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