Swakopmund Marathon

The last weekend in September of 2011 there was a marathon that starts in Walvis Bay and goes along the coast to finish in Swakopmund. I was able to chaperon four of my learners who participated in the school age relay marathon race. We traveled on a government bus with all the Karas region runners and chaperones. It was a full bus! We arrived late in Walvis Bay and registered the runners and ate some dinner provided by the sponsors. Then we all went to a school where we would be sleeping for the next two nights. Our whole bus load – plus another school group or two – were all put into the auditorium of a school. They gave us mattresses and we all found our space in room. The next morning we woke up early to get ready for the race. At the start line I ran into many other volunteers that were running the marathon, half marathon, or were supporting other runners. The race for the school learners is each learner runs about 10km each. When the race started, our first runner Jesaya was pushing his way to the front right at the beginning! These boys were determined to win!

I was able to take the bus with all the learners that were at the halfway point of the race. I couldn’t believe that some of the people running the whole marathon alone were already crossing the finish line at about an hour into the race! They are fast! We waited and then the third learner to come into this point was Ricky – our second runner on our team! I was so excited to see the exchange between him and Johannes and to know that we were in third place at the halfway point. They really are fast – even running with bare feet! I saw a few more volunteers cross and switch at the half way point and then was lucky to find someone who gave a lift to the finish line. It was perfect timing because I was able to see Gregorius crossing the finish line! We came in second overall finishing in 2:26:39. The boys received metals and backpacks and the school received N$3000 to go towards school activities.

After the race we had some fun taking photos around Swakopmund. And then I took them to KFC for lunch. I had heard that the year before they complained about being hungry so I tried my best to keep them fed! The next day we loaded the bus and went back to Tses. We stopped in Windhoek for a few errands for others and had more fun with the camera. Below are some of my favorite pictures from all the photos: