HYT's Marathon Relay



Last Friday, the HYT team ran 20km in an effort to raise money to build two water tanks at our most recent 1 Village at a Time project, Kimenyulo Primary School.

Our run started at Makoka Primary School, where we were greeted unexpectedly by 20 HYT employees that wanted to accompany us for the day. The team included Mr Phillip in a support vehicle, Mr Freddo on his motorbike and trainees from each of the villages between which we were running. Even the Headmistress from Kimenyulo and one of her teachers turned up to run with us!

The team for the day

Pleasantries complete, water onboard, legs loosened, sun cream applied, photos taken. We lined up on the start line...

 
 The guys prepare for the horn

BEEEEEEEP! Freddo sounded his bike horn - we were off. The trainees led the charge out of Makoka and towards Namaganda. Despite our best training efforts and the benefits of having trainers over flip-flops, it was quickly obvious that they would be waiting for us at the next village. However, a couple of guys hung back to run with us and give us some encouragement.


Freddie and Tristan are joined near the back by a couple of trainees



5km down the road, we arrived at Namaganda Primary School, where we were met by screaming children and bemused teachers. Eager to stay on top of our water levels, and already feeling a little worse for wear, we welcomed the brief break. 
 First Stop

Water on board, quick stretch, another couple of photos. While Wyndham distracted the guys by telling them to where we were next running, and in our best attempt yet to get to the finish first, we craftily left Namaganda without any warning in an effort to get a good headstart on the rest of the team. However, little more than 100 metres down the road, we were back in the middle of the pack and again fading.

Having driven this stretch no more than an hour ago, we knew this was a longer stretch, and the majority of it would be uphill so we chose a tortoise strategy by keeping up a slow and steady pace. As the hill got steeper, Tristan pushed on towards Naminage village in a chasing pack leaving the peloton behind. “First Gear!” were the calls of encouragement from our Ugandan counterparts as they urged us to run faster up the hill
 Tristan and his team chase down the leading group

After the full team arrived at St Andrews school in their separate groups, we had a couple of bananas and the team passed round a rather suspect bag of white powder for the final push.
Glucose powder for the last push

It was here we debated why we had run the course this way round, with the longest stretch still to go, which ends with a long gentle uphill to the school! Water on board, quick stretch and another photo. We again set off first and again led the way for all of another 50m.  

 Wyndham leads Mr Freddo and Mr Musa

We began the final stint slowly as the team struggled with the sun – the clouds we had been fortunate enough to have begun the day with had long since been burnt away by the equatorial sunshine and the rock-hard sun-baked road began to take its toll on feet, ankles and knees.

 Freddie and his team on the last stretch chase the leaders

Drained minds led exhausted bodies towards the final goal, yet the front team pushed on and our leading group began to step up their pace. Freddie fell into a chasing group and a large group led by Mr Wyndham and Tristan continued their pace at the back. We soon neared Kimenyulo Primary School, and the leading group had begun to walk, and in turn a lot of the field decided to have a breather. 

 Tristan takes a quick breather

We all plodded into the school individually, where we were met by the all the pupils of Kimenyulo, and they ran the last 100m stint with us. 20km down and we each slumped into our seats and the surprise welcome party began – immediately. So no time for stretching, rather time for listening to the MC introduce the choir, poetry society, representatives of each school (both trainee and teacher) and of course another excellent off-the-cuff speech from a rather dishevelled looking country manager – where Wyndham was able to announce the plans for what we were going to be able to do with the money raised.




 Wyndham thanks the team for their efforts and school for their reception

We ate well and then shuffled to the car to begin our journey back to Jinja, happy with the success of the day. Thank you very much to all those that donated and thank you for your ongoing support.

If you would like to donate please visit our just giving pages
http://www.justgiving.com/1VillageRelay
http://www.justgiving.com/HYT-Uganda-Wyndhams-run