MT. Kilimanjaro Marathon Races

Moshi, Tanzania, AFRICA, June 24, 2001

Races

Courtesy of Brent Weigner
402 W. 31 St.
Cheyenne, WY. 82001
307-635-3316
RunWyo26point2@compuserve.com

MT. KILIMANJARO MARATHON RACES

The 2001 Mt. Kilimanjaro Marathon Races were held on Sunday the 24th of June in Moshi, Tanzania. Race organizer and director Marie Frances always holds this unique event on the last Sunday in June. This year's event also featured Tanzania's first official 50k in addition to a 10k, half marathon, and marathon. The course consisted of a 10k out and back on a busy macadam road. The compact course allowed runners to "pick their poison" in terms of what distance they wanted to run. The severely undulating course started and finished on a rocky, rutted, dirt road at the Moshi Club, the local country club and golf course. Runners from the Tanzanian Olympic Team dominated the marathon. Please see the attached results. Prize money was given to the top ten finishers in the marathon, thus the quality times. The small American contingent had recently climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro via the Marangu Route. Some runners had come off the mountain two days before the race and the others had only returned to Moshi the day before the marathon.

The race was advertised on page two in the June 22nd edition of the Tanzanian daily paper, The Guardian. Tanzanian and U.S. government officials were present at the pasta party the night before the race. Tanzania was represented by the mayor of Moshi, Lucas Tamiro and the United States was represented by Derek Brown from the U.S. A.I.D. office of the American Embassy in Dar Es Salem. Harshit Shah, owner of Shah Tours and the Mountain Inn hosted the party. Mr. Shah also provided cars and drivers needed to support the event. His executive secretary, Bjal, was instrumental in handling many of the logistical concerns. Assistant race director, Isaac Kamasho, registered the African runners and compiled the race results for the Tanzanians. Unfortunately, complete names and times for several American runners on missionary work in Africa were not recorded for the 10k.

After several days of cool and cloudy weather, race day was sunny, hot, and humid. American ultra runners Bob Wakeham and Brent Weigner were concerned about the late 8:00 a.m. start, and had hoped to begin at 7:00 a.m. or earlier. However, in Africa, things tend to happen at an unknown pace. After a much delayed early start, four runners set off from the Moshi Club to be joined thirty minutes later by a larger group of forty runners, including the quick footed Tanzanians. After the first 10k loop, it was evident the ultra would be a race of attrition, last man standing kind of event. Wakeham and Weigner had hoped to go through the marathon in just less than four hours and coast in under five hours for the 50k. However, each 10k loop was slower and slower as the hills and the heat took their toll on the already weary mountain climbers, turned runners. Boys from a local church school handed out sealed, bottled water every one to two kilometers. Reverend Father Agapiti Amani the Vicar General of the Moshi Diocese of Christ the King Cathedral arranged for the water-boys.

Along the course, runners were greeted by locals yelling, "Jambo," which is Swahili, for hello. Another frequently heard comment was, "Pole, Pole," which means slowly, slowly. Whether the locals were giving the Americans advise, or comparing them to the Tanzanians, was not clear. Weigner's favorite cheer was, "Go Babu!" "Babu" means grandfather in Swahili and it is a form of respect for those who are chronologically gifted.

Halfway through the third loop, ultra leaders Wakeham and Weigner were running out of Gatorade mix and there were no electrolyte replacement drinks available on the course. At the turn around on the fourth loop, Wakeham told Weigner, "I'm stopping at the marathon." Weigner passed the marathon in 4:40 and Wakeham was about ten minutes back. At this point, Weigner asked his nephew, Nathan Brown, for some salt. As none was available, race director, Marie Frances, had a driver take Brown to a restaurant so he could get salt and then locate the lone survivor on the course. The American adventure runner from Cheyenne, Wyoming, continued to slow and finally finished with a time of six hours and 10 minutes. What was his favorite memory of the race? "Seeing Mt. Kilimanjaro as I very slowly ran the last eight kilometers all by myself." RACE RESULTS 10K NAME SEX CITY/COUNTRY TIME 1. Athuman Abdallah M Tanzania 36:24 2. Elly William M Tanzania 36:59 3. Naas Gargwe M Tanzania 37:00 4. George Emmanue l M Tanzania 37:30 5. Apolo Joseph M Tanzania 39:15 6. Testao Nyalusi M Tanzania 46:34 7. Nathan Brown M Spring, TX., USA 58:30 8. Shrikar Shah M Moshi 58:47 9. Bhanirakant Shah M Moshi 59:31 10. Baljinder Dhani M Tanzania 1:06:55 11. Mason Teller M USA 1:08:40 12. Deepsharan Dhan F Tanzania 1:19:19 13. Vanessa Herring F USA 1:34:57 14. Aleesha Buzan F USA 1:34:57 15. Kristen F USA N/A 16. Jenifer F USA N/A 21K 1. Elgorbert Naaly M Tanzania 1:07:24 2. Sudy Hamis M Tanzania 1:12:23 3. Hamidu Mlang'a M Tanzania 1:12:58 4. Laurent Pascal M Tanzania 1:12:58 5. Banvelia Mrashani F Tanzania 1:19:15 6. Rukia Mkanda F Tanzania 1:20:31 7. Maimuna Margwe F Tanzania 1:32:13 8. Mwanaisha Abdallah F Tanzania 1:38:10 9. Secilia Safari F Tanzania 1:39:38 10. Doreen Mushi F Tanzania 2:43:38 11. James Slowik M USA N/A 12. Catherin Robert F USA N/A 42K 1. Francis Naaly M Tanzania 2:25:10 2. Motor Choloo M Tanzania 2:30:50 3. Nicodemas Hiiti M Tanzania 2:32:33 4. Gerway Suja M Tanzania 2:44:09 5. Cosmas Kamugisha M Tanzania 2:44:56 6. Simon Peter M Tanzania 2:49:06 7. Samwel Lucian M Tanzania 2:58:35 8. Julius Onesmo M Tanzania 3:11:20 9. Nestle Suger M Tanzania 3:40:35 10. Ras Chibba M Tanzania 4:05:14 11. Robert Wakeham M New Jersey, USA 4:50:00 50K 1. Brent Weigner M Wyoming, USA 6:10:00 ###