1st KLM-ARUBA Marathon

1^st KLM-ARUBA Marathon

Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/MarathonAruba

The 1^st KLM-Aruba Marathon is in the history books. Unofficially, well over 800 people signed up for this event.

A word of thanks to the organizers and all the sponsors. Without the sponsors usually, there is no event.

As a participant, this was my first marathon in over a decade and although I participated in the 10K run, it was not an easy undertaking.

First of all, the temperature was an issue. It was extremely warm for the time of the day. (06:00-07:00) Also, training is a very important issue. If you don’t train properly, you will end up in trouble. Then there is the issue of self-competition.

This is where you are not just doing the race but you’re also competing against yourself. The race is always a competition between you and your body. So besides the mental part, any medical or physical issue you might have will impact your performance. I’m no stranger to that.

This was a race like any other but I have a few remarks.

First of all, this being the first KLM-Aruba race, it would have been nice to have more prices and maybe make it more attractive for next year. It’s not like a Boston marathon, which draws over 20 thousand participants, but this might attract more participants from other countries.

Something did bother me a lot about this particular race. The number of bottles and plastic water bags that were discarded during the race was not cool. I personally saw many of these plastic water bags that ended up in the ocean because the wind just blew them away. This is a big no, no for any race like this.

I would suggest for the organizers to place many trash cans or more volunteers to clean up right away from the participants. These races contribute to people’s overall health and exercise lifestyle but on the other side, this is a major waste contributor to the environment.

There were areas of the race where there weren’t any volunteers et all and these empty water bottles and bags got to blow away to areas where nobody would recover them again.

This is not meant for just this race but it must become standard for all races. Maybe this can even be a requirement for their race permit and yes, a possible fine.

Let’s be honest. Nobody really wants to pollute the area. But during the race, the participants have little time to get rid of the trash. So it’s the organizer's duty to make sure that adequate and enough trash collectors or trash bins are in place.

Lastly, the organizers must in cooperation with the police organize the race in such a manner that it doesn’t become a traffic obstacle for the neighborhood. Many times these run or walk activities will block traffic access to or from some of the house in the race area.   

Not every race is the same. So there shouldn’t be a “blueprint” used for all races. For every race, things can change and the point is that we can have healthy activities like these with little to no waste production and still not become a nuisance for the neighbors.

Till next year, peace.

 Doc.