March 2
A 400-metre vertical ascent at over 1000-metres above sea level, including a 10km constant uphill grind, against some of the fastest runners this planet has to offer – these guys run a marathon faster than most of us could hope to sprint. Add to this a generous lashing of equatorial heat and the colourful disorganization of myriad cars and villagers competing for the road you run on. Not an easy undertaking at the best of times, let alone for your first marathon. Heth the full, myself the half… that was the plan. Not only was this our goal, but we had convinced four others from Blantyre to join us, none of whom had run anything like a marathon before.
Thus the contingent from the ‘Blantyre Hash’ set out to conquer the Kili Marathon, as well as using it as a very nice excuse for some time out of the day to day routine of life in Malawi. After a night in Dar, the comparatively immense capital of Tanzania, then some lapping it up in the luxury of the San Salinero Hotel in Moshi, the nearest town to Kili, we made out way down to the very African dominated Moshi Stadium for the start. Amongst the blaring music permeating the many haphazard sponsor & food tents, and the hordes of intrigued onlookers in the stadium, stood some rather alarmingly fit looking, rake thin black guys who would have looked more at home on your television set watching the Olympics than at the same event we had turned up for. Not exactly confidence inspiring, but fun all the same.
At the stroke of 6am, minutes after first light ripped its way out of the darkness and across the dusty ground in a blaze of orange, bringing with it a distinct air of expectancy, the gun went as the three hundred or so full marathon runners, Heth & Kat included, bounded out of the stadium… a few a little more briskly than others. Twenty minutes later the twelve hundred-strong runners of the half marathon followed suit in a flurry of legs and dust. And no more than a few minutes into the run, with locals lining the streets and cheering in celebration, the behemoth of Africa’s highest peak sprang from beneath the clouds to sit majestically over the entire event, a full view of her snow capped beauty greeting you the majority of the time… hard to beat this for a marathon setting.
As I came to kilometre 18 of the half marathon, having just passed Heth starting the 10km uphill slog in the opposite direction, I was met with new levels of enthusiastic cheering from the sidelines. Buoyed by this I lengthened my stride in this downhill section, then five seconds later was overtaken by a flurry of fanfare and cars… and the leader of the full marathon positively bounding along at somewhere in the vicinity of 20km/h, making me feel like I was doing my best to run backwards. He managed to set a new Kilimanjaro Marathon record, at a lazy 4h 13m 06s. Not bad considering the world record sits less than 10 minutes less than this, on flat ground.
Without shattering any land speed records ourselves we all came in with respectable times, and were even treated to the hospitality of food and drinks in the Kilimanjaro Hash tent afterwards given we were there representing Blantyre. And what better way to celebrate such an achievement (particularly from Heth & Kat) than a few days of cold beers, indulgent seafood, diving, sunbaking and soaking up the relaxing vibe of Zanzibar. Perfect.
Thus the contingent from the ‘Blantyre Hash’ set out to conquer the Kili Marathon, as well as using it as a very nice excuse for some time out of the day to day routine of life in Malawi. After a night in Dar, the comparatively immense capital of Tanzania, then some lapping it up in the luxury of the San Salinero Hotel in Moshi, the nearest town to Kili, we made out way down to the very African dominated Moshi Stadium for the start. Amongst the blaring music permeating the many haphazard sponsor & food tents, and the hordes of intrigued onlookers in the stadium, stood some rather alarmingly fit looking, rake thin black guys who would have looked more at home on your television set watching the Olympics than at the same event we had turned up for. Not exactly confidence inspiring, but fun all the same.
At the stroke of 6am, minutes after first light ripped its way out of the darkness and across the dusty ground in a blaze of orange, bringing with it a distinct air of expectancy, the gun went as the three hundred or so full marathon runners, Heth & Kat included, bounded out of the stadium… a few a little more briskly than others. Twenty minutes later the twelve hundred-strong runners of the half marathon followed suit in a flurry of legs and dust. And no more than a few minutes into the run, with locals lining the streets and cheering in celebration, the behemoth of Africa’s highest peak sprang from beneath the clouds to sit majestically over the entire event, a full view of her snow capped beauty greeting you the majority of the time… hard to beat this for a marathon setting.
As I came to kilometre 18 of the half marathon, having just passed Heth starting the 10km uphill slog in the opposite direction, I was met with new levels of enthusiastic cheering from the sidelines. Buoyed by this I lengthened my stride in this downhill section, then five seconds later was overtaken by a flurry of fanfare and cars… and the leader of the full marathon positively bounding along at somewhere in the vicinity of 20km/h, making me feel like I was doing my best to run backwards. He managed to set a new Kilimanjaro Marathon record, at a lazy 4h 13m 06s. Not bad considering the world record sits less than 10 minutes less than this, on flat ground.Without shattering any land speed records ourselves we all came in with respectable times, and were even treated to the hospitality of food and drinks in the Kilimanjaro Hash tent afterwards given we were there representing Blantyre. And what better way to celebrate such an achievement (particularly from Heth & Kat) than a few days of cold beers, indulgent seafood, diving, sunbaking and soaking up the relaxing vibe of Zanzibar. Perfect.
2 comments:
Do you, or any of your colleagues, have a phone # or e-mail address for the Hotel Sal Salinero in Moshi. I looked on the web but without success. Th anks.
Sorry Tom, we simply found it by driving around - try http://wikitravel.org/en/Moshi
Cheers, Dave.
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