Saturday, June 18, 2011

Kigali Marathon


Me, Kayla, Heather, and Matt waiting at the Peace Corps office before the race.

The founder himself, JFK, and me at Stadio Amohoro before the run.

The entire Peace Corps run team at Stadio Amohoro before the race.

Running to the finish line.

           
            The annual Kigali marathon took place on Sunday, May 22.  The event had the best runners in Rwanda along with expats from all over the world participating.  It was great to see Greeks, Brazilians, Canadians, and Africans from several countries coming together to run the event.
            The event started and finished at Rwanda’s premier stadium, Amahoro Stadium.  The course wound through Kigali’s streets, including passing by the Peace Corps office where we had a few people cheering us on at the gate.  There were three events: half marathon, full marathon, and relay.  The relay consisted of teams having four people, with each person running a quarter marathon. 
            For the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, our staff paid for 28 relay runners, 3 half marathon runners, and 1 full marathon runner.  The staff gave us t-shirts and a nice dinner the day before the marathon. 
            All in all, it was a great day, amazing weather, and a lot of fun.  It was great to see everyone and celebrate the 50th year of Peace Corps.