The day the people told me to "hop, hop, hop

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A funny thing happened the other day. We were in Tasch (Switzerland, near the Matterhorn), and in the evening we walked with the kids to a local park.
While we were gone the clouds moved in fairly quick (the Alps !), and we made our way back to the campground. When we got back Bron noticed that someone had shut the roof windows on the motor home….enter Peter from Germany. Peter said that he did not want our motor home to get wet, and “Am I here for the marathon ? “.
One thing led to another, and before I knew it I was entered in the Zermatt (mountain) marathon.
Whilst away I have done a few jogs, but nothing more than 10 km. I told Peter this ,but he said it is a mountain marathon, which means a bit of walking (only the very elite athletes run the whole distance).
Come Saturday ( 5/7/08 ) I was on the Matterhorn Express train with Peter, and his wife Kirsten, on our way to St.Nickolas where the race began.
St. Nickolas is about 1000 m above sea level , and the race finished at Riffelberg, which is about 2500 m above sea level.
The race began, and at one point I can officially say that I was coming last. It was when I stopped to have my photo taken with a man blowing a Swiss long horn. A German bloke said , “are you here to take photo, or run marathon ?” .
The whole event was run in a great spirit. When you ran past the locals they would chant “hop, hop, hop”, and ring cow bells. For a while I thought they were saying….come on, move your arse ! But was told by another runner that it means ‘good, good, good’ , as a sign on encouragement.
I won’t bore you with the race plan, but basically it was run slow when you can run, and walk brisk where you have to walk.
The course was really hard. Often the sections where you can ‘run’ were no more than a goats track on a side of a mountain ( with rocks making it uneven).
Eventually I made it to the 39.5 km mark and was feeling good that it was nearly accomplished. Next minute you turn a corner and see the biggest hill to the finish line, with a cog train line along side it !!
Bronwyn and the kids were at the finish line; and it was enough to bring a tear to a Cornish man’s eye.

For the record, my time was slightly over 6 hours, which for a mountain marathon is ½ OK. The day was very hard and also wonderful. Thanks to Peter an Kirsten for talking me into participating.

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Photos

Swiss horn blower
Coming Last

Matterhorn
On Track

Comments

[max, ali and georgia]

hello
hello all, it looks like your having a great time!! we are all very jealous of you because the weather here is terrible!! carl we are very impressed!! how you managed to finish that race we do not know!! where are you off to next? lots of love max, ali and georgia

[Theresa Banks]

Hello
Hi Everyone, What an amazing time you must be having, it all sounds and looks soooo great. Love the stories and pics...what great memories you'll have - very lucky kids. Keep having fun, will tune in for more later. ...Theresa.