Kigali Peace Marathon

Sunday 11 May was the Kigali Peace Marathon. Wouter was running the marathon in order to sponsor a project of children with a mental handicap in Rwanda. We arrived early to make sure Wouter had a good warming up. The race should begin at 8.00 so we were there at 7.15. Soon it became clear that the start was delayed, Rwandan time. After the national anthem the first run could start, 5 km 'run for fun'. This was quickly proceeded by the start of the half marathon and finally at nearly 9.30 the marathon. This one and a half hour delay did mean it was even warmer. It was a nice and sunny day, hard work for the supporters sitting in the sun. We sat at the covered part of the stadium. The first runners of the run for fun were quickly back and the first ones all collapsed at the finishing line, not a nice sight. We were impressed by the kids on flip flops and bare feet.

After an hour Wouter came past, it was clear he probably could not make his four rounds in four hours. We were impressed when he finally came into the stadium for the last time. We borrowed the flag of the Luxemburg's supporters and they applauded loudly, not knowing he is Dutch. Hopefully nobody will notice on the photo the slightly paler blue. His time was 4.15, which is rather good. In his words several records: his fastest African marathon, his slowest marathon ever, his hottest marathon. Even though he did put on some suncream, he now looks like a Feyenoord supporter (red and white).


Wouter was soon fit again. So we can talk about a successful and enjoyable day. And we shouldn't forget he managed to raise 3.500 Euro for the children of Wikwiheba Mwana, for details see his blog http://rouwhorst.blogspot.com/