This past weekend, more than 300 crazy people from all over the world had decided that running around in a Big 5 area was a great idea. Most of them ran a full marathon, others “only” a half... but they all had to climb up and down the dreaded 2.2 km long Yellowwood road... which is a 500 m climb! As if this wasn't enough, deep sand and wobbly stones made the route a challenge, even when there weren't any hills.
The previous day we had all been driven around the track on route inspection; 42 km took 3 hours! Needless to say, I was pretty thankful that the 2 month flu I had had, actually had made me sane. I'm afraid I would have been among the crazy ones otherwise! Instead, I was positioned at the start and finish line taking photos etc... though I must say that I did feel my legs twitch a bit as the herd raced off.
On route inspection we had seen a lot of wildlife and some people had been a bit concerned, especially regarding elephants and rhinos...
As the last runners were struggling with the soft sand at the lower escarpment, they were blissfully unaware of the lions closing in on them. Luckily, the cats stopped a few hundred metres away, but still, that information might have made them hurry up Yellowwood a bit faster. At the very end, only 1 km from the finish line, a herd of elephants also made their approach. This time however, a runner spotted the animals and ran back to the nearest ranger for protection. Seems to have been a rather great race actually and all the runners were very happy and many said it was their favourite marathon so far. Next year... maybe!
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