Amid a marathon upsurge in China, many marathons offer a “medal bonus” which has attracted many African students to take part in order to earn money.
![African athletes competing in a marathon [Photo: Chinanews.com]](https://newsghana1.tempurl.host/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/00016c42b4161984d26603.jpg "African athletes competing in a marathon [Photo: Chinanews.com]")
African athletes competing in a marathon [Photo: Chinanews.com]
A student from Kenya has even told China News Service that he can earn an average of about USD 3,000 per month, making it an important way to pay bills and to help his families.
Wilfred, a Kenyan student studying in the eastern Ningbo University, studies engineering with full scholarship. However, living costs are still a burden for him, reports China News Service.
He sometimes had only one meal in several days to save money but conditions began to change after another Kenyan student invited him to a commercial marathon competition.
He now travels between Chinese cities to compete and make money.
Sometimes when situations are good, he could earn about USD 3,000, having extra money to send back home to help his farmer parents and 5 siblings.
Data from Chinese marathon site, runchina.org.cn, show that in 2016, there are 294 marathon competitions registered in China. And it’s common for all the medals in many of these competitions to go to people from Africa, according to China News Service.
However, more and more agencies are procuring professional marathon athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia and Asian countries like the Philippines to compete in China, making it harder to win medals for these African students.
Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh
