Sri Lankan Marathon

Hello, i've done the Colombo marathon in Sri Lanka a couple of times now and want to recommend it to others. Not a lot of foreigners do it, only about 20 or 30 entered last year, but it's a lovely country and a great place to race. I made a short video of the run as I raced last time and put it on the trek and run website so if you got time check it out -

http://www.trekandrun.com/videos/running/Asian%20runs.html

advertising what? a website that takes no advertising, like ours? oh, perhaps you prefer your websites to be advertising led though, and therefore have your choices made for you. how could you possibly mind if a person, who incidentally gives all their profits to charity, tries to promote a race in a 3rd world country where many people are desperately poor and need tourist revenue?

My forum ????

and it's no different to a thousand other justgiving begging posts..

My information ?

no sane person could ever object to the justgiving project. everybody has a right to contribute to it, nobody has to give. you have a free choice. there is no need to disrespect it. and trek and run is nothing like it.

trek and run is not a charity project. even though i have done good stuff through it and my other ventures. over the past 5 years we have built an orphanage and refursbished others. never ever asked you or anybody else for a dontation. never. and never will. theres no need to. i have found another way and it works. you just got to look at our website. thats it. not hard, is it, and it costs you far less, and gives the same result for the underprivelidged.

personally i think that asking for sponsorship when you do something like a marathon is a pretty poor show. but i wouldn't be so nasty as to invade somebodys post if they're asking for help and tell them that as it is none of my business. it pleases them and thats all that matters. trek and run pleases me so why can't you leave off and do something useful yourself, instead of just moaning on other peoples posts?

it was a negative comment, which is the same as a moan in its effectiveness.

we have 65,000 hits a month now, but the point is to reach as many people as possible. and one of the reasons for the hits is that i come on forums like this, to spread the word. thats what forums are for, as far as i know. to let other people know what you are up to, as well as to ask advice, or to moan.

@ David Wise 3 - thanks so much for posting these clips on runners world. My folks live in Sri Lanka, so I know the score about how beautiful it all is (and how mad the traffic can be!)

Have been wanting to do this marathon for a while and I think your clips have decied for me that it's a must do! - although I won't be able to do until 2013.

 Can you tell me about mosquitos at the early morning start? (I'm very allergic to them)

Also about how you trained for the dreadful heat/humidity factor? I always feel wiped out in Sri Lanka by this and wonder how I would cope with it. How much extra time did it add to your run?.

 I hear that the water stops are a bit random, although cocunut water is my preferred fuel/hydration, so maybe I can pick up a coconut or two en route. - I have a vision of my step dad hiring a tuk tuk to follow me armed with a machete and coconut supply, so that I am assured of these things- the image makes me smile a lot!

I think if you are guilty of anything, it's advertising this beautiful country and Colombo Marathon themselves could do with your clips on their website! I'm sure that many who see them will be interested

Cheers Maria

hello maria, i think i'll be going back in 2013 too, the mosquitoes, no, i didn't even notice them at the start line, not sure why, its a good question as i guess they should have been there, but i didn't notice them. perhaps it was not the season for them? anyway, i had no issue with them, and didn't see anybody else wafting their hands around either! i've done the race 3 times, each time i go over there about a week before and do a couple of 5km training runs, but more than that, i just try to walk around a lot experiencing the heat and staying away from the air condition as much as possible. and before than, in this country, i just tried to do my training runs at midday if i could.

my best marathon time is about 3.22, but there my best time is 4.25. on top of the heat, what slows me is that i try to really enjoy myself and the rural scenery. the kenyans i know who do the run, their best times are around the 2.10 mark and they tend to finish around 2.25, so best to say that you will be slower. the water stops are good now, they have official vans following as well in case the water runs out, i never went without, there was always somebody every 5km to give me some water. but the tuk tuk idea, yes, i've seen a few people do that too!

hope that helps, you can always email me via trek and run if i can help any further, not sure if you also saw in the site but i put vids of the training runs i did in bentota, colombo and waikkal.

best, dave

That's great Dave - yes the other videos were fab - just the Sri lanka i know. It's beautiful isn't it? and so many friendly people. Will contact you some time in 2013. Don't even dare to ask about loo stops, as imagine there are non!

Really made me want to get back there as soon as possible - my mom gets water monitor lizards that must be 6 foot long from nose to tail in her garden, as well as the terrible monkeys and the occassional snake in the kitchen cupboard!

Thanks again

well - who knows what life will bring next? - have just booked a plane ticket to Colombo and will be running this one this year after all!! - so very happy! - will contact you David direct as no doubt i'll have a few questions

just back from Sri Lanka. It was very hot (36 degrees), humid and polluted. The race was rerouted because there is so much redevelopment going on in Sri Lanka (all good) but it was not possible to do the normal route. So this meant that instead of the canal route, we had 26 miles of main road. Absolutely horrible! Won't recommend this one until the old route is back. Can't seem to be able to do a ratings for it - I would give it a thumbs down this year, but have to say that I enjoyed the challenge of it and Sri Lanka is just wonderful.