A gentle start to Tanzania, the Kilimanjaro Half Marathon !!!!!!

We arrived bright and early at Kilimanjaro airport and was picked up and taken to the nearby town of Moshi.  This is where we needed to register for the Kilimanjaro Half Marathon.  We stayed at a lovely B&B called Tembotamu run by a lady from New Zealand.  At the race registration there was lots of kids looking for people to help then enter the fun run, it was only $1 so we helped enter a few budding athletes.

Luxury at Tembotamu B&B. 

Ready for the race. 

A keen young athelete. 

 CAAC Vests ready to go !!!! 

The night before the race saw horrendous rain storms which turned most of the streets into a quagmire of sticky mud.  By the time we had walked to the Moshi stadium to start the race we had about an inch of mud stuck to our trainers !!!!!
There were 3 races in the day a 5K, Half and Full Marathons.  We opted for the Half as we though it would be more than enough of a challenge.
The race started at 7am and the temperature was well into the 20C.  It was very cloudy and overcast so luckly the sun was not too strong.  The start of the race was more like the start of the Grand National with lots of over enthusiastic locals bursting forward and almost running up my back.  There was as amazing array of running apparell on display.  Guys running in Jeans,  moccasins and I even caught up with a bloke about half way in Flip Flops flying along !!!.

 Pre Race. 

Race handicap for Gillian. 

 Full Marathon start. 

Dean on the start line. 

There was some great banter among the runners during the race.  It was a tough start , the first half of the race was uphill starting at Moshi at 900M, climbing up to the Mweka Gate (where you finish your Kilimanjaro Trek) at 1700M.  It was absolutely gruelling as it was getting hotter and hotter.  It was pretty much a jog for the first half, and I stopped for a few seconds at each water station to have a good drink and a cold sponge. It took about 55 mins to get to the halfway point, but after the turn I picked up the pace and started to run a bit more freely.  It was great to start picking off runners on the way back and a great atmosphere finishing back in the Moshi Stadium.
It was one of the most scenic and lively races we have done, running through coffee and banana plantations, villages where the people were going about their everyday lives, carrying bananas on their heads and children on their backs,  meat hanging outside the butchers, and  herdsmen with their goats. The support was amazing!

 Finished !!!!!! 

 If you CAN run it...drink it !!!!! 

 Post race hospitallity. 

I finished 1:41 and Gillian finished 1:50, so I think these times show how hard the race was.
First Male runner was from Kenya (Hosea Mallel) in 1:03, first female was from Kenya also (Hellen Mlieo) in 1:13.  Just shows how good these East African runners are !!!!

You can find the full results on the Kilimanjaro Marathon website.