4^th International Peace Marathon, Kigali, 11 May 2008

Born from an idea of Mrs Mireille Bastian from the Soroptimist Club Luxembourg Melusina in 2001 and later realised by Mrs Bettina Scholl-Sabbatini from the Soroptimist Club Esch-sur-Alzette, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, the International Peace Marathon in Kigali was run for the first time on 15 May 2005. The Soroptimist International of Europe and Rwanda with their project “Femmes Artisanes de la Paix” and the “Association des Amis Luxembourgeois du Marathon de Kigali” (ALMK), together with the Rwandan Ministery for Youth, Sports and Culture are co-organizer of the marathon in Kigali under the high patronage of his Excellency the President of the Republic of Rwanda.

The course of the marathon of 42.195 km is approved and certified by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) and is run in 4 rounds. The half marathon is run in 2 rounds and the course of the "Run for Fun" has 5 km. The circuit is quite undulating as each round has a variation in level of nearly 350 m. Thousands of spectators are bordering the circuit, supporting all the participants, who often encourage each other when someone looses a bit of speed.

The 2008 edition of the International Peace Marathon was again chosen by AIMS for their special Children's Series, where children of the 10-12 years age-range from all over Rwanda were selected by their schools to run the 5 km "Run for Fun" track. This fact gave official and international recognition to the International Peace Marathon, as all marathon runners of the whole world are now aware of the Marathon in Kigali.

The Amohoro Stadium is being entirely redone, which unfortunately did not allow the performance of entertainments. The lively ambience nevertheless was still present and the applause for the participants crossing the arrival line, was as intense as the years before.

See you ALL at the 5^th International Peace Marathon in May 2009