Worlds highest marathon: 150 climbers reach Everest

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Worlds highest marathon: 150 climbers reach Everest

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More than 150 competitors braved chilling temperatures of Mount Everest yesterday.

30 May,2012 04:55 pm

The race is a pioneer for adventure tourism in Nepal and it’s a new thing. Now more and more people are into trail running and we have really tapped into that marketThe Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon is part of annual celebrations marking the first conquest of the 8,848-metre summit on May 29, 1953, by Sir Edmund Hillary and his sherpa Tenzing Norgay.The race starts every year at 7a.m. in Gorak Shep, close to Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,356 metres, and finishes around 2,000 metres lower in the town of Namche Bazaar.The atmosphere at base camp contains only half as much oxygen as at sea level, meaning runners find themselves gasping for breath even on the slightest incline along 42 kilometres of narrow, rocky mountain paths.Organisers describe the route, which passes through Buddhist monasteries, monuments and over suspension bridges, as “probably the most adventurous trail run in the world”.The temperature at the start yesterday hovered around freezing.“We had 93 foreigners and 62 Nepali runners. This year was our 10th anniversary and when we started we only had two foreigners,” organiser Shikhar Pandey said by phone from the finish line.“The race is a pioneer for adventure tourism in Nepal and it’s a new thing. Nepal is such a beautiful country and now more and more people are into trail running and we have really tapped into that market.”The winner was Phurba Tamang, a Nepalese runner who completed the race in three hours, 41 minutes and 31 seconds – just 11 seconds slower than his winning time two years ago.The Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon is probably the most adventurous trail run in the world.It commemorates the first successful ascent of Everest by the late Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and the late Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.The measured distance of the course is 42.195 km over rough mountain trails.It has been held annually since 2003 with an overnight stop at Everest Base Camp