PHILIPSBURG—It’s not every day some of the world’s most accomplished marathon runners, all self-confessed amateurs, turn up on one’s door step but that was the case Saturday when a 26-strong running group stepped off the Liberty cruise ship to run a marathon in St. Maarten.
It was part of a cruise adventure organised by adventure travel company Z Adventures dubbed the “Southern Caribbean Challenge” where world renowned athletes ran six marathons on six different islands during a one week-cruise.
The first marathon started in Puerto Rico on January 31 with others in St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.
The marathon course was efficiently organised and timed by Tri Sport offering the runners a scenic overview of Great Bay harbour.
Departing from inside the port at 7:15am the group ran a leg to Pointe Blanche and back before continuing to Bobby’s Marina, onto the Boardwalk and up to Great Bay before entering Divi Little Bay Hotel and a climb up the Signal House on Fort Amsterdam.
After rounding the Signal House it was back to Great Bay and on to the hard sand leading on to the Boardwalk. From thereon it was a monotonous slog up and down the Boardwalk ten times, dodging other cruise ship tourists, to complete 42K.
From Passangrahan Hotel to Great Bay Hotel on the Boardwalk was 3K each way.
Bear in mind this was not a race and finishing times probably were not important. The pleasure for this group, as for all their adventures, came from ticking off a marathon in a new country which St. Maarten was.
Consider also the age group of the runners, from eight years old to 78, the youngest being the son of organiser Ziyad Rahim who with his little sister both completed 10K on each island.
But the spotlight was on at least ten of the runners who have mind-boggling numbers attached to their names, not to mention some Guinness World Records here and there.
These are runners blessed with finely engineered knees courtesy of our good Lord but also super human goals and ambitions. Take Dr. Jurgen Kuhlmey (78) from Germany who has run 541 marathons in 57 countries or Parvaneh Moayed from Iran who is a Guinness world record holder for running 168 marathons in one year. St. Maarten was her 860th marathon.
Or USA’s Jeanette Santa Teresa who has run 21 ultra-marathons in consecutive days for a Guinness world record, or USA’s Troy and Cathie Johnson, the oldest and fastest couple to complete a marathon on each continent. Together they have run over 250 marathons.
Then there’s Ila Brandli who celebrated her 70th birthday completing her 120th marathon. She’s the oldest woman to run on seven continents in the fastest time of ten days
And the list goes on and on….
Denmark’s Vagn Kirkelund, who completed his 500th marathon in St. Kitts, had won all five consecutive marathons on this cruise but finished third in St. Maarten.
First to finish on Saturday was tall, lanky French diplomat and multi-linguist Sidy Diallo who led from the start, escorted by Kai Piscione for the first 10K to make sure runners knew which way to go.
“This was the best course so far,” enthused the affable Diallo (60) who has run 130 marathons in 42 countries, 48 of them in 2013 and has his own website. He stopped the clock at 4:36:54.
Second to finish was USA’s Dr. Brent Weigner (66), a world record holder for completing a marathon on each continent 10 times. He has run over 280 marathons in 97 countries and is a three-time cancer survivor.
“We want to make this a yearly event,” said Ziyad Rahim afterwards. “I will probably bring a lot more half-marathon runners next year because the idea really is to run a half marathon and still have time to explore the islands. The full marathon doesn’t allow that because of the cut off times with the cruise ships.”
Rahim and the runners were very impressed with the course and organisation.
“This course was way better than the others because it allowed us to see a bit of the island and run the marathon. It was definitely harder because the other marathons were flat.
“For the runners it’s all about pride and satisfaction at completing the distances but they do get medals too after every marathon on the cruise. These are the who’s who of marathon runners, and they are all amateurs, retired and family orientated people.”
Another inspirational story came from Nigeria’s Tuedon Morgan. The 42-year- old mother of four started running marathons four years ago. She once weighed over 300lbs and had shed 180lbs by the time she started running. She’s competed marathons in 35 countries and is a well-known nutrition expert.
She’s also the holder of two Guinness world records. The first was for having the fastest time for a half marathon on every continent in 2015 and the second for the fastest time in the North Pole half marathon in April 2015.
“I’m the first Nigerian to set foot on the North Pole and I planted my country’s flag there,” Morgan says proudly while relaxing at a bar after running a half marathon. “I used to weigh 266lbs and my health had deteriorated. I woke up one day and decided I wanted to change my lifestyle. I never did any sports. I was craving for a change so I started jogging.
“As soon as I could run 5K on a treadmill that led to my first marathon in January in 2012 and yesterday I did my 50th marathon in St. Kitts. Today in St. Maarten is my 40th country.
“My goal is to do 100 full marathons in 80 countries. Once I’ve done that I want to try a half Ironman and maybe one day a full Ironman because I’m a better cyclist than a runner. My message is that age doesn’t stop you from achieving your goals. You don’t have to be extraordinary or extra special to achieve anything. But you have to persevere and be consistent.”
