The Mount Cameroon Race of Hope (in French, “La Course de l’Espoir”) is an annual, televised footrace/running held at Mount Cameroon in the Southwest Region of Cameroon in January or February. This year, the race was held on Saturday 22 February 2020 in the city of Buea with 550 athletes starting at the Molyko Omnisport Stadium to challenge the chariots of Gods. The race which kicked-off at 7 am WAT featured 3 categories of athletes; Senior category, junior category and the veteran category.
The senior category had 331 athletes with 286 men and 45 women, Junior category included 28 females with 48 males summing up to 76, and the veteran category had 143 athletes broken down to 26 women and 117 men. Among the 550 were 18 international athletes from Britain, France, Kenya, Nigeria among others and there were 3 Kenyan women and a Zimbabwean who took part.
Health parameters such as physical fitness, blood sugar and blood pressure of each athlete were properly checked by the regional delegation for public health.
These athletes run from the start point, ascending the mountain following a path up Mount Cameroon and back to the Omnisport stadium which was the start point. The course runs a distance of 38 kilometres (24mi). The winner of each category receives 10,000,000FCFA ($16738) which is a huge motivation for runners. The second and third are given seven and five million respectively.
About 5,000 visitors come to Buea each year to view the race, but the number dropped drastically due to the ongoing crisis in the SW & NW regions of Cameroon. It is such hope-giving race as the name says, and that notwithstanding, athletes still stay true to their hopes. Hope you enjoyed watching my small video compilation which I took as I went to cheer the athletes early that morning .
Hope Local guides would get interested in visiting my country and taking part in this race someday in the future. Until then, stay safe and respect measures put in place by the WHO to reduce the spread of #COVID-19
@Austinelewex Thank you for sharing this post with me.
@Lily_Asongfac Great post. I have never participated in such events for myself, but know people who participate usually and even go for other countries to run with their friends. Surely it’s the style of life and such events are very necessary.
@Lily_Asongfac love your post , actually I love run ,running away from reality I mean haha , I love run because I my past time I afraid from dog neighbor .
@Austinelewex Thanks for tagging me. @Lily_Asongfac Wow! This is so inspiring! I always wanted to join races but did not had the chance. Thank you for sharing this!
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, I don’t run oh.
. You should participate
. It’s just that some would rather prefer to stay anonymous.