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The Everest Marathon; How it all Began

rob Howard / 28.11.2007

Competitors are currently trekking up to the start line of the World’s Highest Marathon which is at Gorak Shep, the last hut before Base Camp on the Nepalese side of Everest. The race takes place on Weds. Dec. 5th, but how did such an extraordinary race come about in the first place?

In October 1985 Jan Turner, an artist from London, and Tony Hunt, an antique dealer from Norfolk, set off for a trek to Everest. When they reached Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa ‘capital’ they decided (for no good reason) to hold a 13km race from Namche to the Tengboche Monastery and back again.

Fourteen runners from 6 countries were rounded up from the lodges and 12 of them finished the course. (No one knows what happened to the other 2!) Two local boys, Mak Bahadur and Rishi Gurung, won in 3 hours 7 minutes, followed by Julian Tober, a Birmingham dentist. The locals thought they were all completely mad, but enjoyed the spectacle.

Jan and Tony returned with the idea of staging a full marathon to raise money for Nepalese charities, but it wasn’t until November 1986 that they found anyone else to help them. They got together with Diana Penny, who runs the trekking agency Bufo Ventures Ltd, and professional photographer Rob Howard, and after an all night session in Rob’s flat the plans were laid and the date set for the first race – November 27th 1987.

It was to be a sporting first, no one had staged a race so high before, and there were plenty of critics from the medical profession and the press. The Daily Telegraph ran a piece entitled ‘Marathon Madness on Mountain – the race they tried to ban’. It featured John Webster, a Scottish minister taking part, who was said to have chosen his funeral hymn before leaving!

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