Parker, Celeste, Timol, Cam, Rob and Misty (Iona is not pictured.)At the end of the year, Pokhara holds it's Annual Street Festival. The festival/carnival is held to celebrate the English New Year and to promote tourism 1in Pokhara. From the 28th-1st, 500,000 tourist and Nepali were expected to attend the festivities. Approximately 3km of the main road is blocked off. Restaurants arrange their tables on the streets. The vendors also display their goods outside on tables.
There were several scheduled events. On the 31st was the 2km Tourist Race. Misty and I thought it would be fun to do the fun-run. I signed Parker up and we convinced our friends Cam and Iona to join us. None of us have ran in a while but it was only 2 kms. We figured the whole thing would be no more than 30 minutes. We planned on blending in with the other racers and try not to embarrass ourselves too much.
When we checked in we were shocked to find out that there were only 7 of us signed up. It was only the 5 of us and two others: Timol from Germany and Rob from the UK. 2011 is Tourism Year for Nepal. All 7 of us were given race numbers, red hats and red polos printed with "Nepal 2011 Tourism Year".
A Nepali band with local instruments was playing and a crowd was gathering. This was not part of our blending in plan. It was only 2kms but one we didn't know the whole town was going to be watching us. The officials told us race was running late because they were waiting for the news crew to arrive and our police escort. Apparently, we signed up for more than we thought.
We followed our police escort. The news filmed us. Parker was wearing chaco sandals and Misty ran in her boots. We discussed jogging the 1st km and then racing the 2nd km. But Timol and Rob took off in a full sprint. We found out later that Timol is a tri-athelete and expected competition. Imagine his surprise when the 5 of us strolled in.
Parker was just infront of me. As people cheered for him he raised his hands and cheered back. I was cracking up watching him run in his sandals. Everyone thought I was Nepali and was excited to see me run (they were also probably wondering why a Nepali was in the Tourist Race). The whole town cheered us on. Timol, the professional athlete, was first followed by Rob, Cam, Parker, myself and Misty and Iona rolled in together.
We all ran through a red ribbon at the finish line. We thought it was all over but little did we know the fun was just getting started. The officials, the band, our fans and the news led us to the fair grounds and to the stage. The band was rocking and we were taught Nepali dance moves.
We were then called to the stage one at a time by name and country. All seven of us were seated. There were speeches made and we were all thanked for our participation. The top 3 finishers were awarded traditional Nepali khukiris(knives). We were called up one at a time and given a Buddisht scarf for good luck and traditional Hindi face paint for blessing. We then took an official photo with our finisher's certificate and shaking hands with the President of the Bar and Restaurant Association. Since there were only 7 of us, we were all invited to dinner with cocktails later on in the evening.
We were asked to dance one last time with the officials, the president and the band. It was a 10 minute fun-run that turned into a 3 hour affair. Everyone in town congratulated us. Our friends saw us on the news. It was by far the most fun and most memorable race any of us had been apart of. It was an awesome way to end 2010 and a fantastic kick off for 2011. We were all excited to have our part in kick starting Tourism Year 2011 for Nepal.
Parker, Celeste, Misty, Iona, Cam, Dan and Dude(?).
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