A call to “Move, Learn, Discover with Nutrition-Care” rang out at Mwesigwa Resort on Thursday morning, as Rev. Prof. Florence Isabirye Muranga laid out the vision for the Olympic Day TOOKE Run during the Kiruhura District Breakfast.
The guests were welcomed by the Chairman LCV Kiruhura District Mukago D Rutetebya. It marked the fourth major public activation of a three-year partnership signed on March 14 between the Uganda Olympic Committee, Commonwealth Games Uganda, and the Banana Industrial Research and Development Centre.
The agreement named TOOKE as the official nutrition partner for Uganda’s Olympic and Commonwealth Games teams, with Prof Muranga appointed Nutrition Ambassador. “This partnership is not symbolic, it is purposeful,” Prof Muranga told guests.
She said the TOOKE Run was designed around four goals: supporting excellence in sport, raising nutritional support for vulnerable children, fostering healthy lifestyles, and strengthening East African highland green banana farming through global market linkages.
Sport Needs Science. Linking performance to food, Prof Muranga stressed that “without proper nutrition, peak performance is not sustainable.” She explained that tailored nutrition boosts an athlete’s power-to-weight ratio, agility, and recovery, while preventing fatigue and injury.
The TOOKE products — Raw and Instant TOOKE Flour — are made from East African highland green banana and contain over 70% resistant starch and 20% slow digestive starch, offering what she called “sustained, crash-free energy.” “Nutrition for the Next Generation” The run also targets early childhood malnutrition.
Prof Muranga cited national data showing stunting rates between 25% and 29%, wasting at 3.2% to 3.6%, and anemia affecting nearly half of children under five. “Today’s well-nourished child is tomorrow’s champion,” she said, adding that PIBID/BIRDC would develop affordable, nutritious products for children in the weaning phase.
UGX 4.47 Billion Mobilization.
The Olympic Day Tooke Run will take place on 20th June in Bushenyi with the 5km, 10km and 2km. For its inception year, organizers are mobilizing UGX 4.47 billion, UGX 2.5 billion for the nutritional legacy and UGX 1.97 billion for the Olympic Day TOOKE Run itself.
The funds will support Ugandan athletes to the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, and nutrition programs for vulnerable populations. Prof Muranga closed by inviting partners to join Patron H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, whom she called the “Chief Runner on the race for Nutrition Care.”
“Let us rise together, let us act together, let us build together and together let’s take TOOKE to the world,” she said. The Olympic Day TOOKE Run will be held on June 20, 2026 in Bushenyi District under the theme “Move, Learn, Discover with Nutrition-Care.”
