Inaugural
Kilimanjaro Marathon
The
first official Kilimanjaro Marathon got off to a
fine start on Sunday 02 March 03, outside the Keys
Hotel in Moshi, Tanzania. The day was perfect, with
Kilimanjaro in all her glory in full view as the
nervous runners lined up, the sun turning the
glaciers from pink to gold as the clock ticked down
to the 0645 start.
The main
sponsor - Tanzania Breweries Limited, under their
Kilimanjaro Premium Lager brand (some say the best
beer in Africa!) had taken the bull by the horns
and committed to putting a marathon on - to boost
the sport and tourism to Tanzania. The small town
of Moshi was bedecked with their banners, and the
now famous slogan "Its Kili Time" was on everyone's
lips at the countdown.
The
blowing of a traditional horn in the early hours by
the Ngoma dancers preceded the start, and then the
group of over 200 marathon runners set of through
Moshi and up onto the dirt roads leading up to
"Kili". A well marked route, with plenty of water
points, traced its way gently upwards across
bridges from the colonial days, past small coffee
farms and houses, always with the sight of
Kilimanjaro ahead - a stirring sight for many of
the social runners, who had decided on the
combination of running the race and THEN climbing
Africa's highest peak!
The turnaround
point was at 27 km, near Mweka College - about a
320m gain in altitude to about 1100m amsl - then
back through another route through banana and
coffee farms, to finish at the stadium. Being a
Sunday, a lot of the farmers and their families
were on their way to church as the marathon passed
through - in their colourful Sunday best. The kids
joined in the fun, running with the athletes,
cheering them on, through some classic rural Africa
- red clay roads, green bananas and lush patches of
forest. The crowd support was amazing.
Once the top
athletes were in, in an amazing 02:16 (full results
on website), we went up to check on the backmarkers
- this is where the race picked up its social
element, with runners stopping for a chat or a coke
at a roadside bar, dicing with the kids etc. The
atmosphere was amazing, with even the slowest
getting a great cheer - the women runners were
especially well supported by the ladies en route to
church in all their finery - often the first note
you had of a backmarker coming in was the noise of
women cheering them on!
The last runners
in clocked in at 05:39:21, a senior runner who won
the Most Senior Athlete award, Mr Amos Mahonda from
Tanzania, sponsored by Wild Frontiers to represent
the older running community - well done Mzee
!!!
The team runners,
and their times are listed herewith.
Michael Sarwath,
from Tanzania, time 02:17:48, from Timmax finishing
2nd.
Faustin Shauri,
Tanzania, time 02:20:25 from Team 100, finishing
6th.
Johannes Kekana,
from South Africa, completed in 02:21:48 sponsored
by Nashua and finished 7th.
Benito Nitwewe,
also Tanzanian, time 02:23:38 finishing 9th, from
team Kilimtali.
Africa One,
Holiday Inn/ Colobus Bus, Zimbabwe Sun and Wild
Frontiers also sponsored a number of other
athletes, some of which finished the marathon in
under 2:30. Well done to all those
athletes.
In the meantime,
the two shorter races, the Celtel 5km and
Mutichoice 10km had started and finished - as these
were fun runs, no numbers were taken but an
estimate of over 700 people took part in these -
both these races were professionally run with
waterpoints etc.
In terms of
logistics, the marathon was a long time coming -
operated by the Kilimanjaro Marathon Club and Wild
Frontiers, Keys Hotels and Geckos Safaris ----- all
the paperwork, IAAF measuring of route,
registration with AIMS, approval by the Tanzanian
Amateur Athletics Association and Sports Ministry,
waterpoint supplies, route marking, police
assistance, as well as the two ambulances and 15
medical staff on duty, communications between
points (helped immensely by sponsor Celtel), the
race clock, official race timings ...
The sponsors -
Tanzania Breweries Limited, Celtel, Multichoice,
Keys Hotels, Air Tanzania Company Limited, Wild
Frontiers and Shoprite - had done an amazing
marketing effort in the preceding months,
especially the main sponsor - the word was out all
over Tanzania. It culminated in TBL bringing up top
Tanzanian bands and artists to play in Arusha and
Moshi over the weekend, and at the finish, joined
by the traditional Ngoma dancers in their monkey
skin costumes, playing traditional instruments - a
sound not heard often in modern Africa - at the end
and during the presentations .
The finish at the
stadium was amazing - communications with the lead
car allowed the master of ceremonies to update
spectators of the race leaders in real time - the
cheer when the Tanzanians overtook the Ugandan who
lead for half the way, Joseph Nsubuga, was
incredible. We now had a VERY FULL stadium - the
runners, spectators, dignitaries etc - people had
NEVER seen so many people there even for soccer
games. The sponsors all had tents and beer and food
was available .......again, Kili honoured us with
her presence, being open and cloud free well into
the afternoon. After the prizes were given out -
over USD5 600 in total on the main race, and good
amounts on the others, as well as T shirts and
medals, the local bands started up, the dancing
started and the party went on well into evening
.
The whole event
was televised and shown around Africa on Supersport
M-Net , and is set to be shown on world channels
too .
What was achieved
?
A great
event, and runners from Uganda, Kenya, Zanzibar,
Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, USA, UK, Germany and
of course Tanzania.
A great
boost to Tanzania tourism - in the future - now
Tanzania is on the map as a top marathon
destination.
A great
boost to Tanzanian Athletics in general.
A feather
in the cap to the sponsors for committing to this
event.
The town of
Moshi - the town was full on the Saturday, and the
income to the region cannot be calculated - bars,
hotels, taxis etc were all smiling!
The local
Amateur Athletics Association recieved a percentage
of the race entry fee, for local athletics in the
future.
The
Childrens ward of the local hospital will get the
majority of the race entry fee - for the good of
the whole community.
Will it rival
"Comrades " and some of the bigger races worldwide?
We are not sure, but it will grow rapidly - the
"spirit" among the friendly Chagga people of the
area is already there, and what better way to spend
a week than travel to Tanzania, run a great race
under Africa's highest mountain, and then travel to
the Serengeti to see the migration, or to relax on
Zanzibar's famous white sand beaches...or like some
did, run the marathon and then climb
Kili?
We are already
setting up the 2004 race &endash; March 7 - and
putting into place some other community projects
during the year - collection of old running shoes
etc - for the local runners. Watch the website for
details and book your place now!
John
Addison
Wild
Frontiers
Tel: ++ 27-11 702
2035
Fax: ++ 27-11 468
1655
Email:
angelique@wildfrontiers.com
Website:
www.wildfrontiers.com
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& SATSA
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