The Everest Base Camp Trek is quite an undertaking, so can you imagine how athletes do it at running pace? In November, the 13th Everest Marathon will take place and the trail from Namche Bazaar to Everest base camp will have running shoes pounding along it, rather than the usual hiking boots.
The Everest Base Camp Trek takes you through an unforgettable environment with challenging trekking and scenery to get your heart pumping. But each year, there are a select group of endurance runners who choose to take this trek to the next level, adding to the experience the adrenaline of a race and exertion of running at altitude.
The Everest Marathon is no normal marathon. At altitudes ranging from three hundred to five hundred metres above sea level, it is the highest in the world. This sets it apart from other running events. First of all, the terrain is unlike the tarmac and paving of more conventional marathons. The route goes cross country, along rugged, undulating dirt trails. Secondly, the race is sloped, as you would expect from a race that starts just a few hours walk from Everest Base Camp. The Gorak Shep plateau is the starting point, at an altitude of 5184 metres. The route then descends largely along the Everest Base Camp Trek route until Namche Bazaar, the mountainside Sherpa village at 3446 metres. This means, at least, that the race is largely downhill, but with some steep slopes and uneven terrain, the race is more in the realm of the fell runner than a marathon runner.
Training for any long distance event is hard work, but the altitude plays a big part in this endurance event. Even people walking the trails in the Khumbu occasionally experience difficulties, so running in this environment can be even more demanding. For this reason, competitors from outside Nepal are invited to join an Everest Base Camp Trek for the days leading up to the race. On the trek, they can benefit from the gradual acclimatisation as the trail rises steadily from Lukla airport to Mount Everest. With incorporated rest days and an even pace, the trek is a good way to get your body used to the environment.
Acclimatisation is so important that prior to the race the runners will often prepare themselves by trekking to the summit of small mountains near the head of the Everest Base Camp Trek, such as Kala Pattar (5623m) and Gokyo Ri (5483m) a few miles away.
It is no surprise that, being better used to the altitude, the first few runners to reach the finish line are usually Nepalese, sometimes finishing more than half an hour ahead of competitors from overseas. In 2007, the winner, Lok Bahadur Rokaya, ran a time of 4 hours and 12 minutes. The last participant to finish took a little under twelve hours, but this is still impressive since they covered the majority of the Everest Base Camp Trek route, which takes around two weeks to walk.
This year’s race will be the thirteenth to take place since its conception in 1987, with about eighty runners competing. Thankfully, after running 26 miles, they don’t have to trek back to Lukla airport from Namche Bazaar, instead making use of the high altitude airstrip at Shyangboche, nearby. Not only does the Everest Marathon provide an exceptional challenge but it also raises substantial amounts of money for charity. To date, over £450,000 has been raised which has been used to support health and educational projects in Nepal.
Author Resource:-
Jude Limburn Turner is the Marketing Manager for Mountain Kingdoms, an adventure tour company who have run the Everest Base Camp Trek (http://www.mountainkingdoms.com/itinerary_info.ihtml?schedid=919) for over 20 years. They now offer treks and tours in destinations worldwide.
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