Everest Marathon 2007
News From the Everest Trail
Kath Turner / 03.12.2007
Thursday 22 November
This is a cruel race. The 20 mile mark brings you to Namche and within sight of the finishing line, but then we’re diverted right to run another 6 miles – the Thamo loop. We recce’d this loop this morning and it’s not easy. Some ran, some jog/walked, others just walked. It is not an easy last 6 miles as it is a CORRUGATED trail. In the afternoon we set off for Khumjung and overnight camp: slowly, slowly as Khumjung is at 3790m. Oh joy! This evening we were issued with our own toilet rolls!
Friday 23 November
“Bed Tea� is at 6.30 am, kit packed by 7.00 am. This ritual will now be repeated every day until race day. Everyone has their own particular way of packing and unpacking kit, from military precision to ‘exploded mattress’. Unfortunately for me, I share a tent with the exploded mattress.
The sun is again shining brightly as we finish breakfast but there is a cool wind. Our destination today is Dole at 4040m, another overnight camp at altitude. Following lunch at Phortse Tenga and a spot of sunbathing, it was the slowly, slowly trek up to the camp site.
Well, for some of us it was slowly, slowly. For the others who decided to stride out quickly, quickly, it was to be a miserable night. The secret of acclimatisation is to walk as slowly as possible, something that doesn’t come naturally to well-trained athletes.
Dinner consisted of prawn crackers, soup, hash browns and cauliflower. How on earth these meals are conjured up given the equipment the cooks and kitchen boys have at their disposal is incredible. We retired to bed at 7.30 pm, the “stop-outs� hanging on until 8.30 pm. The night was a cacophony of tent zips with several people suffering the ill effects of altitude, keeping the doctors busy.
Saturday 24 November
“Bed Tea� and kit packing time again. This is a good time, if you’re a smart-arse, to wander round the camp site spotting those that have not camped before. Dr Darin’s ineptitude at folding a Thermorest did not go unnoticed. Breakfast: porridge, muesli courtesy of our sponsors Jordans and Frosties (as if it wasn’t frosty enough), scrambled egg and toast. The New Zealand lads experimented by mixing porridge, muesli and drinking chocolate in one bowl!
Off we set on the ‘long’ 3 hour trek to Machermo, the shortest day yet, interrupted by yet another 1 hour tea stop, as this is meant to be an easy acclimatization day. Camp was reached at 11.30 am, followed by scenes of mountain domesticity: clothing being washed in bowls of muddy water, bodies and hair being washed in equally muddy water. Faces and heads shaved and beards trimmed. This was one of the few opportunities to clean ourselves; well, clean being relative in this case. A couple of hours later the camp site resembled a shanty town with wet clothes freezing solid on makeshift washing lines. While this is going on, a game of touch rugby (using a duvet jacket) between the Marathon International team vs Nepal Select was being played, followed by the Machermo high jump competition, with hot competition between the kitchen boys.
The camp site is in a fantastic situation surrounded by mountains and glaciers, too beautiful for words, with a 360 degree panorama. Lunch was in the mess tent: chips, beans and fried cinnamon bread. You can’t beat this traditional Nepali food. Afternoon tea in the lodge meant another game of poker which, on these long, dark evenings, is becoming increasingly popular.
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