Jungle Marathon
To the Finish with Painkillers
Fredrik Olmqvist / 28.09.2004
We start at 8pm at the beautiful beach of Aramanai with the remaining group of runners. All have badly blistered feet, some in flip flops, some barefoot. At least the packs are much lighter than at the beginning of the race. I try to run with the fast ones but it’s impossible, the pain my feet is just too much. The painkillers haven’t started to work yet. “Wasps, wasps!� someone shouts and suddenly the slow, suffering feet pick up a totally unexpected speed. I have to realize my racing is over after my weak stage 5 performance, now I just want to finish the race. German runner Anke gives me a paracetamol for the pain. After 10 minutes I can almost run, and start to overtake one runner after the other.
Running on the white beach of the Tapajos river is beautiful, almost like a commercial for cereals. But the legs are stiff after the long week and 180 km running, climbing, scrambling, shuffling and walking. The back is sore thanks to the backpack; arms and legs are covered with scars, cuts, bruisers, red chaffing areas, allergic spots and bite marks.
The head of an elderly man pops up in the water. He is fishing, just checking his net. A woman is washing with her children. “Hola!� Another water crossing, I hate them by now, so painful for the deep blisters. And I wonder if this is the way it’s meant to be, that the course is designed to create pain and suffering. Another checkpoint, more water in the bottles and over the head. Just another 6 km’s to go.
After 5 hrs I finally reach the finish on the town square in Alter do Chao, a small tourist village. A medallion, a T-shirt and a cold sparkling drink. Smiles and relief. It’s over. As more runners arrive we congratulate ourselves.
The stage is won by Brasilians Cardoso and Bafu. But who is the overall winner?
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