This weekend saw the twenty-first edition of the Kilimanjaro marathon. The race, which started as a very local affair involving mainly Tanzanians, has now grown to become one of the important sporting events on the continent, drawing participants from over 50 countries representing “all the continents of the world except Antarctica”, according to Aggrey Marealle, one of the organisers.
All ‘the Kili’ needed to happen was the coming together of a politician businessman of the Moshi area, Philemon Ndesamburo, who had a tourism business; John Addison, a tour operator from South Africa; a former athletics champion, Leonard Mandara, and Marealle, who was an executive of the national brewery, whose Kilimanjaro beer brand became the logo.
