22 JUNE 2008: TANGAMANGA MARATHON, MEXICO – 2008 Tangamanga Marathon

More than 2500 runners all wearing a blue t-shirt – even the elite athletes were in blue – began to run shoulder to shoulder as a wave through the Mexican city of San Luis Potosi. The scenic course enhanced the sight – everybody moving in common, using the same language of running.

The course itself was green, passing through the third largest park in Central and South America, the Tangamanga Park. Here runners could enjoy the beauty of nature before emerging amid more attractive sites. Music played around the course, and people cheered runners on by the names that were printed on their bib numbers. Runners came from different countries and experienced a sense of Mexico: from Belgium, Germany, one runner from Finland, USA, Kenya and Ethiopia.

The medal design was a world encircled by runners of all kinds: a child, a fireman, a policeman, a woman elite runner, a mother, a wheelchair participant, a blind runner. The meaning of the medal was the equality of the road running community and friendship around the world.

The day before 5000 children ran as part of the “See better to learn more” program, helping other children to be provided with lenses and 2500 trees were given as a gift to the kids, under an adopt-a-tree initiative. All the aid station glasses and bottles were recycled. They ran through the marathon finish line feeling like grown ups, and they will be the marathon runners of the future.

The 25th Aniversary will be held on 21 June 2009, you are invited to come and enjoy this FIESTA with us.

Source: aims.org