In the shadow of the tallest giant

By the time you read this, Harry Botha and Lara Kruiskamp will be a couple of days into their journey to Mount Everest’s base camp.

The Ballito residents are set to run the highest marathon in the world, the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon on May 29.

Getting there is half the challenge even for the two very experienced runners. Both Kruiskamp and Botha have earned their Seven Marathons on Seven Continents medals, with Botha (72) being the world’s oldest person to have done so, on the mainland of each continent.

Their journey started last Wednesday with a flight to Dubai where they caught a connecting flight to arguably the most dangerous landing strip in the world – the Lukla airport.

Both runners seemed more worried about the landing than running the marathon.

From Lukla it is a 12 day journey to Everest base camp, where the race will begin.

“This will be the longest journey we have had to do just to get to the start of the race,” said Kruiskamp.

Another challenge will be the altitude. Botha and Kruiskamp have run marathons at altitude before and are very aware of the dangers of altitude sickness.

“When I did the Sani marathon, I felt the altitude. I was a bit lightheaded and had tingly fingers,” said Kruiskamp.

“We may seem a bit blasé about it but altitude is a very serious reality. We are going prepared,” said Botha.

A hiker died last month after succumbing to Cerebral Edema at base camp.

“I remember climbing Kilimanjaro, from 4000 metres and higher it is tough. The porters would say “Pole Pole” (slowly slowly), which is the trick,” said Botha.

Once they have trekked to the start, they will retrace their footsteps back to Namche Bazaar on race day.

“The race will take us pretty much the whole day while most marathons take around six hours to finish,” said Botha.

According to Botha, some competitors have slept in caves if they are unable to finish the race in a day. Runners are allowed to sleep in villages overnight but they will receive a three hour penalty on their race time.

The dangers of the race also call for team work, so they will be helping each other out in the first marathon they have run together.

“With only around 150 competitors, you very quickly find yourself alone. We will stay together the whole time in case one of us gets injured or into trouble,” said Botha.

“We hope to inspire people to reach higher, I know that I am inspired by Harry. This race will be the cherry on top for both of us after getting our 7/7 medals,” said Kruiskamp.