Edinburgh Sisters to run Everest Marathon.
While thousands of runners took to the streets of Edinburgh and the roads of East Lothian to run in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival this weekend (May 27/28th), two Edinburgh sisters will be preparing for a different marathon challenge.
Shyamala and Dhavala Stott have been in Nepal for the last 14 days preparing for the Everest Marathon. The race is billed as the highest and most adventurous marathon in the world and starts at Everest Base Camp at 5356 metres(11,286 feet).
Over the last 10 days, competitors have been trekking from the village of Namche Bazaar at 3440 metres in the Himalayan foothills up to Base Camp above 5,000 metres (17,552 feet).
Acclimatising and adapting to altitude for the Everest Marathon
With local sherpas as guides, they cover a few kilometres in distance, and a few hundred metres in elevation each day as they get used to the rarefied air. They stay each night in simple mountain lodges but will camp out for 2 nights once they reach Base Camp.
On Monday, 29th of May, race day, they will then run back down the trails to the village of Namche Bazaar.
This year, the race is being held on the 70th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. Competitors can opt to run the full marathon or half marathon distance. For ultra enthusiasts, there is also a 70km (43 miles) option.
The sisters are both experienced runners and hill walkers and members of Edinburgh’s Sri Chinmoy Athletic Club.
The club is one of a worldwide network, inspired by the Bengali meditation teacher and sports enthusiast Sri Chinmoy.
They are in Nepal with a team of runners from other Sri Chinmoy groups including New Zealand, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Poland, Serbia, and Nepal.
Amongst several projects, the Sri Chinmoy team organises the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, a global torch relay to promote world peace.
The team are carrying the Peace Torch up to Base camp and will be running the marathon with it too.
Peter Hilary (left) and Alex Hilary (Right) son and grandson respectively Sir Edmund Hilary
On their way to base camp, the team have been visiting village schools, telling the story of the run which has now visited over 189 countries. They also met with Sir Edmund Hilary’s son, Peter Hilary, who chairs The Himalayan Trust. The trust, set up by the Hilary family, helps with developmental and educational projects in Nepal.
Training and preparing for the Everest Marathon.
The field of approximately 200 runners travels from all over the world, but local Nepalese runners tend to dominate the races.
Although run on trails, the race is not too technically challenging. They are good trekking paths and nothing the sisters will not have encountered in the hills and mountains of Scotland.
The main issue is the altitude. Running in the rarefied air is more challenging than at sea level. You can train on similar terrain in Scotland, but only going to high altitudes can prepare you for that.
That is why all competitors make the slow trek up to base camp above 5,000 metres in easy stages, to help acclimatisation and adaptation.
Use your local landscape
In time honoured tradition, you use what you have in your locality to train for any endurance challenge.
AS well as a few forays north to bag a few Munros, the sisters have regularly been running and hiking in the Pentland Hills, Edinburgh’s wonderful natural adventure playground just South of the city.
Edinburgh’s hill and trail runners have used the Pentlands as a training ground for numerous challenges for many years. The trusty, favourite starting point for many is at Swanston car park before heading up the steep climb to Allermuir. From there, you can head over to Castle Law before the downhill drop to Flotterstone and then over the ridge taking in Turnhouse and Carnethy Hills as well as East and West Kip. It allows running on a variety of surfaces with ascents and descents.
They have also received great advice from an old friend, Angela Mudge. Mudge, a former World Champion mountain and sky-runner broke the women’s course record for the Everest Marathon in 2007. She ran 5 hours and 3 minutes. That time was bettered by New Zealand’s Anna Frost in 2009 when running an incredible 4 hours, 35 minutes and 4 seconds. The men’s record is held by Nepalese runner Ram Kumar Ray Bhandari with 3:40:43.
The time taken at high altitude to run a marathon can be almost 2-3 hours more than at sea level. No one goes to the Everest Marathon expecting to run a Personal best.
Former Everest Marathon race director Alison Bramal, also an experienced adventurer, once commented,
“ Most competitors find in the end that it’s the journey itself that matters more than the one-day marathon.”
Full Everest Marathon details
Full event details can be found here
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