Accra, Sept 23, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor is expected to fire the starter's gun for the commencement of this year's Accra Milo Marathon scheduled for Saturday.

The 42.2 kilometres mass sport begins from The Point, Nungua, through some principal streets of Accra to the Dansoman Keep-fit Grounds.

The organisers, the Dansoman Keep Fit Club, told the GNA Sports in Accra on Thursday that President Kufuor was billed to perform a similar exercise in the 15-kilometre under-15 category, which would begin at the Kaneshie Sports Stadium the same day.

Many corporate organisations including Stanbic Bank, Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of Buzz GSM, Latex Foam Company Limited, Dizengoff Limited and Kenya Airways have been roped in as sponsors to make the 18th edition more successful and to beef up the prizes for the athletes. Main sponsors, Nestle Ghana Limited, producers of Milo food drink, are pumping into the annual event one billion cedis and would be supported by good-old 'partners' the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and the State Insurance Company, officials insurers of the competition. When the GNA Sports visited some of the registration centres in Accra, people were briskly submitting their personal details while a lot more were undergoing medical examinations.

More than 2000 athletes are expected to participate in the event of which the winner will be flown by KLM to compete in the prestigious Amsterdam Marathon.