Mount Cameroon Race of Hope

Last updated

The Mount Cameroon Race of Hope (in French, "La Course de l'Espoir") is an annual, televised footrace held at Mount Cameroon in the Southwest Region of Cameroon in January or February. [1] The 20th edition of the Guinness mount Cameroon race of hope was scheduled for February 14, 2015. The information was made public in a joint press conference granted by the president of the Cameroon Athletics federation, Emmanuel Motomby Mbome and the General manager of Guinness Cameroun, Baker Magunda. During the Press Conference it was made known that the mode of registration and price (10 million FCFA) remain the same but there will be several innovations this year notably the Olympic flame that would go round the country prior to the race.

The flame of hope will visit every qualifier race notably in Ngaoundere, then move to Batie, Bamenda, Yaounde, Douala, and finally Buea. On each lap of the tour, Guinness Cameroon will carry out some activities of general interest such as constructing water catchments, schools and hospitals. [2] The event begins at Molyko Sports Complex in Buea [3] and follows a path up Mount Cameroon and back; [4] The course runs a distance of 38 kilometers (24 mi). [5] Participants are divided into men's and women's divisions and further subdivided into professionals, youth, and casual runners. [6] Each winner in the men's and women's professional divisions will receive 10,000,000 francs CFA in 2011. [5] Teams may enter the race and compete in the relay division. [7] The first Race of Hope was in 1995. [8] Since then, participation has steadily increased; there were 214 participants in 2005, 390 in 2006, and 643 from nine countries in 2007. [3] As of 2010, the winners since the race's inception had all been Cameroonians. Sarah Etonge has won the women's division for four straight years. [1]

The first race took place in 1973. [1] For many years, the race was organised and sponsored by Guinness under the name Guinness Mount Cameroon Race. [4] In 2005, control of the event was taken by 12 local committees in Buea [3] and representatives of the national Cameroon Athletics Federation (CAF) and the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education. The budget in 2007 was 130 million francs CFA, the bulk of which was provided by the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education. The change to public control was controversial: In 2005, Mayor Charles Mbella Moki of the Buea Rural Council accused the organisers of mismanagement and proposed that Guinness to be given back full control. [4] In 2006, the CAF cut the prize money to the winners by 25% without warning, reportedly to cover their membership fees in the organisation. [9]

About 5,000 visitors come to Buea each year to view the race. [1] Cultural and sporting events take place in Buea. These include artists, choral groups, and dancers; [3] and basketball, handball, and volleyball tournaments. [10] Local authorities sanction the event through the paramount chief of Buea, who climbs Mount Cameroon to petition the gods for their blessing. [8]

The 2007 documentary film Volcanic Sprint is about the race. [11]

The 2019 race saw marginal attendance due to the ongoing Anglophone Crisis. [12]

During the 2023 edition, nineteen athletes were injured when small bombs exploded during the race. [13]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jones.
  2. ↑ Mbonwoh, "Decision".
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mbonwoh.
  4. 1 2 3 Nana, "Mayor".
  5. 1 2 Mbous
  6. ↑ Nana, "Race Of Hope Winner".
  7. ↑ Nana & Mbunwe, "Teacher".
  8. 1 2 Vubem.
  9. ↑ Nana & Mbunwe, "Winners Angry".
  10. ↑ Efande.
  11. ↑ "Volcanic Sprint".
  12. ↑ Insecurity, Separatists’ Threats Block Population, ‘Buries’ Ambiance Of Mountain Race, The National Times, Feb 23, 2019. Accessed Feb 23, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Nineteen athletes wounded after blasts at race in Cameroon". Reuters. 25 February 2023.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sub-Saharan Africa</span> Region south of the Sahara Desert

Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African countries and territories that are situated fully in that specified region, the term may also include polities that only have part of their territory located in that region, per the definition of the United Nations (UN). This is considered a non-standardized geographical region with the number of countries included varying from 46 to 48 depending on the organization describing the region. The African Union (AU) uses a different regional breakdown, recognizing all 55 member states on the continent - grouping them into 5 distinct and standard regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwe people</span> Cameroonian people

The Bakweri are a Bantu ethnic group of the Republic of Cameroon. They are closely related to Cameroon's coastal peoples, particularly the Duala and Isubu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Cameroon</span> Active volcano in Cameroon near the Gulf of Guinea

Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in the South West region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako or by its indigenous name Mongo ma Ndemi.

Articles related to Cameroon include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coton Sport FC de Garoua</span> Football club

Coton Sport Football Club de Garoua, or simply Coton Sport, is a Cameroonian football club based in Garoua. They play their home games at the Stade Omnisport de Garoua, commonly known as the Roumde Adjia Stadium. The club is chaired by Sadou Fernand. The first team plays in MTN Elite One and competes in 2012 in the CAF Champions League. The club has the largest budget of a Cameroonian club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Cameroon</span>

Sports in Cameroon is practiced widely by the population and advocated by the national government. Cameroonians take pride in victories at international competitions, making sport an important source of national unity. Traditional sports in Cameroon include canoe racing, swimming, tug of war, and wrestling. Wrestling has featured in the initiation rites and other ceremonies of ethnic groups such as the Bakweri and the Duala. However, in modern times, sports such as basketball, boxing, cycling, handball, netball, caber toss, and table tennis have become popular. The 40 km Mount Cameroon Race of Hope draws several hundred runners each year. Tourists hike, rock climb, and mountaineer, especially up Mount Cameroon. Yaoundé, Tiko and Kribi have golf courses. Rugby union is also played, with about 15 clubs and 3,000 players nationally.

Sarah Liengu Etonge is a fell runner. She has won the annual Mount Cameroon Race of Hope seven times in her native Buea, in the Southwest Province. Her most recent victory came in 2005, with a time of 5:38:06. On March 12, 2005, Etonge was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in mountaineering by Professor Emeritus Lydia Luma of the Cameroon Education Corporation. In 2006, the city of Buea revealed a statue in her honor. It was only the second municipal statue constructed in Buea ever, and the first since that for Otto von Bismarck.

Volcanic Sprint is a 2007 documentary film produced by Steve Dorst and Dan Evans about a grueling mountain race in Africa and the mostly local competitors who compete against tough odds to overcome dire poverty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Cameroonian anti-government protests</span> Violent protests

The 2008 Cameroon protests were a series of violent demonstrations in Cameroon's biggest cities that took place from 25 to 29 February 2008. The protests followed on the heels of a strike by transport workers, who were opposing high fuel prices and poor working conditions. Further political turmoil had been caused by President Paul Biya's announcement that he wanted the constitution to be amended to remove term limits; without such an amendment, he would have to leave office at the end of his term in 2011. Large groups of youths, whom the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) political party and the government blame one another for organising, took to the streets of Douala, Yaoundé, Bamenda, and other major cities, looting and vandalising property. The government sent in troops to crack down on the unrest, and protesters and troops alike were killed. The official government tally is that 40 people were killed, but human rights groups claim that the total is closer to 100. Government figures place damage to property at tens of billions of francs CFA.

The mass media in Cameroon includes independent outlets. The nation has only one national newspaper, which is state owned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franck Ongfiang</span> Cameroonian footballer

Franck Olivier Ongfiang is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Antoine Ntsimi is a Cameroonian economist and politician. He is the first president of the Committee of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central (CEMAC) since April 25, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee production in Cameroon</span>

Coffee production is very important for the economy of Cameroon The crop is grown extensively in the country, with robusta more prevalent in the coastal areas and arabica more widespread in the western highlands. The two varieties of arabica cultivated are Java and Jamaïca of which only Java is resistant to pests such as coffee berry disease and rust. In 2014, Cameroon was ranked the 31st largest producer of coffee in world.

Goalball in Cameroon is one of several sports available to people with vision impairments to participate in. It arrived late to the blind sports community in Cameroon, with torball arriving first. It has subsequently, been supported domestically by clubs such as Club for the Blind Youth of Cameroon (CJARC) and PROMHANDICAM Yaounde.

ID sports in Cameroon are played in the country by people with intellectual disabilities. These sports are governed by Cameroonian Federation of Sports the Intellectually Disabled (FECASDI) and Special Olympics Cameroon. People with intellectual disabilities in Cameroon lack the same access to educational opportunities as people with other disability types in Cameroon. Development for sporting opportunities for them began in 1995, when Special Olympics came to Cameroon. Since then, other development activities have taken place, focusing on ID football and ID sport in general. Funding for ID sports is often limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglophone Crisis</span> 2017–present separatist conflict in Cameroon

The Anglophone Crisis, also known as the Ambazonian War of Independence or the Cameroonian Civil War, is an ongoing civil war in the former Southern Cameroons regions of Cameroon, part of the long-standing Anglophone problem with profound root causes. Following the suppression of the 2016–17 Cameroonian protests, Ambazonian nationalists or separatists in the Anglophone territories of Northwest and Southwest Regions launched a guerrilla campaign against the Cameroon Armed Forces, and later unilaterally proclaimed independence. In November 2017, the government of Cameroon declared war on the separatists and sent its army into the Anglophone regions.

This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2019.

This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2021.

Sacred Heart College is a private Catholic primary and secondary boarding school for boys, located in Bamenda, Northwest Region of Cameroon. It is managed by the Archdiocese of Bamenda, and is known for producing some of the best results in the General Certificate of Education Ordinary and Advanced Levels in Cameroon. Apart from academic excellence, Sacred Heart College, like other Catholic schools, prides itself in the holistic formation given to students aimed at preparing them to be law-abiding and right-thinking members of a democratic and pluralistic society.

Bonduma, also known as Wonduma by the indigenous Bakweri people, is one of the quarters of Buea, the capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. Although there is no clear distinction between the regions, over the years Bonduma has evolved into two sections: Upper Bonduma and Lower Bonduma. Upper Bonduma, known in local parlance as agong, is considered a fast growing locality in the Buea Municipality.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.