Rumours were rife that Prince William would be running the
Lewa Marathon. He has been to Lewa several times, security for the marathon was
super tight (far more so than in previous years) and everyone was talking about
it. As I was in charge of running water station 2, I was all ready to hand him
some water. Sadly it did turn out to be just a rumour! No sign of him on the
day which was rather a disappointment.
However, the marathon was really fun to be a part of
although I must admit that I really wished that I was running – may be next
year. It was an early start (5am) to get out to our water station spot and get
set up for 6.30am. It was very cool watching the helicopters flying around,
clearing any dangerous animals out of the way before the race could commence.
And then the anticipation of waiting for the first elite runners to come
through. The winning marathon time was 2 hours 18 minutes which might be slow
by marathon standards but if you saw the never ending hills and the rough
terrain, you would understand why. Frankly, I would struggle to complete the
half marathon here in that time!
Once the elite runners have come through, the rest of the
field seemed to arrive all at once. Complete chaos at this point and I managed
to miss seeing most of the people I knew running because I was far too busy pouring
water and lucozade into cups and simultaneously radioing in the numbers of the
first 10 male and female runners. I was glad to have an early water station
when I discovered that my responsibilities also included monitoring the health
and welfare of all runners. At 5km (3 miles), you would hope that no one is
ready to collapse whereas the later water stations could frequently be heard
via the radio calling for transport and assistance for exhausted and injured
runners. The rest of the morning was very much a waiting game. Those foolish
enough to embark on the full marathon basically do the route twice and by the
time they get back round to us are very spaced out, apart from the front two
men who were basically sprinting neck and neck. After that, there was a lot of
waiting around for the last runners (I use that term loosely as many of them
were walking) before we could pack up.
Well, I thought for a moment that my next blog post might be
entitled “RIP Simba and Finn”. Fortunately, both horses seem to have pulled
through for now. Old age and arthritis are starting to get the better of Finn
but as he is again managing to canter out of his stable each morning, albeit
with very stiff knees, I figure he can enjoy his retirement a little longer. He
has good days and bad days and I guess eventually every day will become a bad
day and it will be time to say goodbye. Simba’s illness is something of a
mystery. I think she has some sort of respiratory infection and her weight loss
was quite something to behold. However, after numerous antibiotics she is
starting to show a little improvement and has regained some of her appetite.
She is being cosseted with five small meals a day and rugged up at night. Early
days yet but I think she is slowly regaining strength and weight. She always
used to be a very bad tempered mare so I will only truly know that she is
better when she tries to bite or kick. Right now, she is very sweet natured so
I take that as a sign that she is not really herself.
Stop press – Champagne is now weaned!! I decided that since
Santa at two months younger sailed through his weaning, it was really time for
Champagne to grow up and stop being such a drama queen. To be fair, she has
coped very well. We took her mum away one evening (down to the farm) and
Champagne spent most of the night calling for her. However, the next day she
went out with the herd and by the evening she was fine. In fact, I think her
mum is more unhappy with her new surroundings than Champagne is about life
without mum and milk.
Well, we now have two cheetahs in residence near our
airstrip which is very cool. Not everyone can say they have watched cheetah
hunting whilst out horse riding! They didn’t make a kill (I think the horses
may have distracted them a little) but they spent ages patiently eyeing up a
herd of Grant’s Gazelle.
I had so much fun the other day playing polo - just
practising with stick and ball (not a proper match obviously). Amarula is the
most amazing polo pony. She is kind enough to maintain a constant steady canter
without pulling to go faster and positions herself at the right distance from
the ball for you to hit it. She definitely knows her job! Somewhat
concerningly, she is producing milk which is a little odd. She is not supposed
to be in foal and certainly doesn’t look fat enough to be in foal. I have
googled non pregnant mares producing milk and apparently this isn’t that
unusual for older mares that have previously had foals. I sincerely hope she
isn’t pregnant because she has been playing polo for the last three consecutive
weekends which wouldn’t constitute the best pre-natal care for her and the
foal! There is still a part of me that expects a call from the syce to say
Amarula had a foal last night….
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