This is a view of the volcano from the town of Buea. You can see just the top of the ridge, but not the summit.
I have never wanted to do a marathon before, but this one sounded like it might be a good one. The Race of Hope is an annual marathon where athletes run 26 miles up and down the highest peak in West Africa – Mount Cameroon. I wasn’t about to do run the entire thing, but luckily this year was the first year they opened up the relay option to women…just one week before the race. This was when the training began. Also during this week is when hikers were not allowed to summit due to burning ashes spewing from the active volcano. Despite little training and the fear that the volcano might erupt, my relay assembled ourselves and prepared for the big race.
The race is divided into 3 equally difficult, but also very different segments. The first relay member runs 3 miles from the stadium in the town of Buea to where the jungle begins on the volcano, then an additional 5 miles up to Hut 1. This is where I started and ran 2 miles from Hut 1 to Hut 2. The last member runs 3 miles from Hut 2 to the summit and then back again to Hut 2. Then, the two of us run together to Hut 1 and pick up the last relay member as we continue to the finish line back at the stadium.
The day before the race, me and our 3rd relay member had to hike the mountain to our perspective huts to spend the night so we’d be fresh and ready the day of the race. I would have been freezing even in my down sleeping bag that night if it weren’t for the 10 other athletes with whom I shared the “bed” (aka long bench) all snuggling together to keep warm.
The race started at 7 am at the stadium and me and all of the other athletes at Hut 1 were already warmed up and ready to go at this time writing down our registration numbers to the officials and getting pep talks from the 15 or so gendarmes that were there to make sure no one tried to rig the race and to maintain peace. Afterall, there was a really high reward for the top 3 finishers in all categories.
Eventually, the first runners appeared and everyone started cheering. My fellow bedmates from the night before began to leave one by one as their relay members arrived. Those Cameroonians were in it to win it as they all came and went long before I started. People started asking me if I was sure my relay member was still coming. I assured them all she will be here and when she came, me and everyone else there was so excited for me, I got off to fast sprint for about maybe 10 feet when I broke down into a jog. Man, it was steep!
After about 10 minutes, the jungle abruptly gave way to open Savannah at which point I could see the top of the ridge. Only once you’ve made it over the ridge can you see the summit and it means you are very close to Hut 2. This is also the steepest part of the race, which is why it is the shortest. It is literally impossible to actually run this section as the first half after the jungle is so steep, you are taking steps almost 2 feet vertically each time. The second half is when you need to use your hands to hoist you up at some points and cling to the Savannah grass to climb. I think it was best that I hadn’t hiked Mount Cameroon, yet, so I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into.
It started to pour down rain as soon as I reached the Savannah, so that by the time I was half way to the ridge, I was completely soaked. Athletes at this point had started to come down causing rocks to fly down. The worst 50 meters or so at the really steep part at the end was when I clung to the mountain totally alone dodging falling rocks, trying to face away from the freezing rain beating down on me as the gusts of winds billowed around me blocked by nothing, muscles trembling from 2 hours of nonstop uphill hiking, and the loss of feeling in my fingers as I tried to make them hold onto the rock to climb. I might have turned around at this point if it weren’t for the relay counting on me.
Finally, I made it over the ridge and to Hut 2. I headed straight to the fire they made and someone threw a sweatshirt and down sleeping bag over me. I never stopped shivering for 2 hours along with about 10-15 other shaking athletes trying to get warm by the fire. Apparently, they weren’t allowing people to make it all the way to the summit anymore after 5 reported cases of hypothermia. Instead athletes were to turn around at Hut 3. After my 2-hour wait at Hut 2, the officials made everyone start heading down as the conditions were too bad and no one could get warm enough to stop shivering.
I headed down to Hut 1 by myself and the rain stopped towards the end offering a crisp and clear view of the entire town of Buea dotted with thousands of tiny tin roofs. Not long after I got to Hut 1, our third member arrived and we all ran down together to the finish line. We thought that hitting the pavement would be the best thing in the world as it meant we were almost done. Not so. Those last 3 miles were maybe the worst; we were just so tired by that point. We crossed the finish line hand in hand at almost 4 pm with all of our friends cheering.
It was a real adventure and we had a lot of fun doing the relay. For anyone who wants to do it I highly recommend it, but it would be better to do a bit of training beforehand – maybe actually try to run/hike the mountain a few times beforehand… and wear mittens. Oh, and they guy who won the race in under 4 hours did it in jelly sandals! Jelly should really use him as an advertisement.
