São Tomé, The Hemisphere Crossing - The Prologue

The question I was most often asked when I said I had entered a race in São Tomé was 'Where?' This was at least a change from the usual 'Why?' São Tomé lies off the west coast of Africa, almost on the Equator. It is the larger of the two main islands of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe. There are several small islands one of which, Rolas, is to the south of São Tomé and is actually on the Equator. São Tomé is 50 km long and 30 km wide, Stefan had to work quite hard to fit a 200km run in such a small space!

Here it is!

The islands were uninhabited until their discovery by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century. Gradually colonized and settled by the Portuguese throughout the 16th century, they collectively served as a vital commercial and trade centre for the Atlantic slave trade. The rich volcanic soil and close proximity to the Equator made São Tomé and Príncipe ideal for sugar cultivation, followed later by cash crops such as coffee and cocoa; the lucrative plantation economy was heavily dependent upon imported African slaves. Cycles of social unrest and economic instability throughout the 19th and 20th centuries culminated in peaceful independence in 1975. São Tomé and Príncipe has since remained one of Africa's most stable and democratic countries. With a population of 201,800 (2018 official estimate), São Tomé and Príncipe is the second-smallest African sovereign state after Seychelles, as well as the smallest Portuguese-speaking country. Its people are predominantly of African and mestiço descent, with most practicing Roman Catholicism.

More information can be found by Googling São Tomé and Principe, Wikipedia has quite a good article which may or may not be where I got the short history above from.

I said earlier that Stefan had to work quite hard to fit a 200km route on the island and in fact he hadn't quite made it, the total distance was 198km. However before the race, on Saturday there was to be an untimed prologue around São Tomé Town of about 4.5km. It was to start outside the National Museum we had visited the day before and so we all put on our running kit and walked down to the start.

There were four local runners, two from the sponsors, Valúdo and two other local athletes.

The São Tomé Race Team

This was the first time I had met the local athletes, Ismael and Júlio. I had run Cambodia in Hoka Torrents and, as I had no problems with them, I had  bought a bright orange pair to São Tomé. Rumour had it that Ismael and Júlio could run 10km in 30 minutes so I was delighted to see they had exactly the same shoes as me as I felt they would have a much better idea of what was needed for the terrain.

At least I've got the right shoes...

We had a race briefing....

Mafalda, translating

...and just after 9 'o' clock we were off!

Some of the locals taking part in the Prologue

Ryan, the Chief Doctor, leading the pack

The course wasn't marked and the roads weren't closed but we were lead through the streets by a police truck. This worked quite well on the less crowded streets...

Downtown São Tomé

...but became a bit more of a challenge around the market.

Slightly slower past the market

No one cared as it wasn't a race and it all added to the fun.

We came back to the National Museum to run through the finishing arch and then went into the museum for a look round and prize giving. Actually it wasn't a prize giving as such but Stefan had a selection of hats and t-shirts he gave out to the locals that had joined us on the run.

Finsished! (Photo credit: Global Limits)

I climbed the small light house tower and found Ismael and Júlio already there. This would set the tone for the week, they were generally everywhere before me. I took the opportunity to get a photo with them and our matching shoes.

Some immensely talented runners and me 

We walked back to the hotel and had a quick shower before packing up, checking out and getting into the mini-buses to go to our first camp, Agostinho Neto, the abandoned Botanical Garden House. There was a lunch stop, which was nice, but on to the camp.

The accommodation was interesting to say the least. We were in a couple of large rooms inside slightly small free standing mosquito nets that had taken five and a half months to travel from China.

Not many race camps have chandeliers! 

I had a walk around the grounds...

Our accommodation building

Some people had brought hammocks

The gardens

Local accommodation

...until we were informed there was a bar nearby. We could visit it but the only stipulation was that we should be back for the opening race briefing at 5 pm so off we went.

More anonymous beer

I doubt this bar had ever seen so many foreigners

As we had promised we returned for the race briefing (Mafalda translated as necessary).

Race briefing - Loz is eating as usual (Photo credit: Global Limits)

Afterwards I had food sorted out my kit and then settled down in my mosquito net. Tomorrow the race proper would start...

São Tomé, The Hemisphere Crossing - Leading up to The Prologue

As many of you will know, in November I took part in the Global Limits race The Ancient Khmer Path in Cambodia. You may also have noticed I never wrote a blog about it. Why not? Did I not enjoy it? Was it so dull I couldn't think of anything to write? Or had I just bowed to public pressure and stopped writing very long and boring blogs? The answer is 'none of the above'. I had a fantastic time in great company, the race went through enough varied countryside and temples to be anything but dull (apart from possibly 20km on a red dirt road on the long day) and as you can see I'm still in the long boring blog business. No the answer was simply that I didn't really have time. Why not? Well prior to the race in Cambodia we had been invited to take part in a very special one-off Global Limits race only open to those that had done at least two previous GL races. The race would finish on the Equator and was on an island I had never heard of. It was also in February which was far too close to Cambodia and Christmas so we had not really considered we would enter. However...

Several of the runners in Cambodia had already signed up for the race in São Tomé and when I looked at the entry list we knew roughly 30% of the entrants already. I'd also taken annual travel insurance for Cambodia as it was hardly more expensive than we would have had to pay for two weeks and all the equipment would be about the same as Cambodia so it seemed it was meant to be. The only slight issue was that by the time we decided we wanted to do it (during the presentation meal at the end of Cambodia race) there was only one space left. We asked Stefan if there was any sort of waiting list to which he shrugged and said 'Sixty or sixty-one, I can cope' and we were in! Hence with Christmas and preparing for São Tomé I just ran out of time to write a blog on Cambodia!

Anyway after a last minute hiccup due to Brexit which meant we were sent a visa the day before we left (EU countries don't need a visa but the UK is no longer part of the EU and the 'transitional arrangements' don't apply to non EU countries) we flew to Lisbon on Wednesday and boarded the flight to São Tomé with about 56 other participants and volunteers - there aren't many flights to São Tomé! I should point out there were normal people on the flight too but we made up fair proportion of that day's flight.

My first view of São Tomé

São Tomé was chaotic but we appeared to have some kind of 'fast track' which involved someone taking our passports and promising that we would get them back later... No one wanted to see our visas. We were then all packed into assorted mini buses and taken to our hotel.

Dinner was booked for us at a (the) local restaurant where we got to try our first São Tomé beer - labels on the bottles appeared optional.

Anonymous

Rare labelled bottle

Food was good if a little mysterious at first - what was under the batter?

Friday was race check-in day but that wasn't until the afternoon so we decided to go for a walk - and immediately made a 'friend'. Our new 'friend' pointed us in the direction of the São Tomé National Museum and we assumed he would get bored while we looked round.

Some of São Tomé's Founding Fathers

The São Tomé Deceleration of Independence - I thought they would make more fuss about it

A servant's (slave's) bed

The Master had more luxury

A view of the shoreline

Sharon half way up the lighthouse

No bottled water in those days

A servant would sit by the door 24-7 in case any errands were to be run

São Tomé is largely Catholic...

...and Voodoo

No, our 'friend' hadn't got bored and guided us to our next location, a renovated railway building. São Tomé had a narrow gauge railway from 1913 to 1926, it was 18km long and never made a profit. Like many of the Colonial era buildings on the island, most of the railway buildings had fallen into disrepair but the main shed had been extensively renovated and was becoming a museum and art gallery. As it was still a work in progress the museum mainly consisted of a series of panels detailing the history of the island. I found these fascinating and mentally removed the inverted commas around 'friend' as I would never have visited that place without his guidance - he was now friend.

New timbers in the railway shed

The fact the museum had a small cafe and wi-fi made it even better as we stopped for an unlabelled beer and to post some pictures to annoy our friends.

I'm absolutely certain I wouldn't have wandered into the market buildings without a guide but again it was fascinating to see.

São Tomé fruit and vegetable market

Clothing market

View from above

You can even buy a bed. This is the roof of the market so quite how you get it down I have no idea...

After the market we visited a chocolate shop for ice-cream and told our friend we needed to get back to our hotel. He took us via a supermarket to buy water at a fraction of the price of that in the hotel and then started shouting at  tuk-tuk. It turned out the tuk-tuk was owned by his brother who gave us all a free ride to the hotel!

Our guide

Sadly I can't remember our guide's name but I gave him a few euros and he seemed genuinely grateful and waved us goodbye.

We packed up our kit for check-in and passed our checks and got our race bibs.

Check in (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

'I know I look old and past it but honestly my doctor said it was OK' (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

Checked in and ready to go! (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

That night we had the welcome dinner with the Minister or Sport and Tourism in attendance - the race was big news on the island! He didn't speak English but fortunately one of the volunteers, Mafalda lives on the island is fluent in both English and Portuguese. We heard Stefan say 'Mafalda translate' so often during the week I became fairly convinced her name was 'Mafalda Translate'.

'Mafalda Translate' with the Minister of Sport and Tourism (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

Tomorrow we would get to do some running - a 4.5km untimed prologue run round São Tomé Town with some of the locals...