Kilimanjaro Marathon - official European website

About the Race - The official Kilimanjaro Marathon

Situated south of the equator - in Tanzania - at 5 895 metres, this is Africa's highest mountain and the highest "free standing" mountain in the world. Huge permanent glaciers flow down from the summit, and the sheer presence of this huge mountain dominates the entire area. An icon in Africa, "Kili " as she is affectionately known, is one of the sights every person should see at least once in his or her life.

On the above date, a standard 42.2 km marathon and a 21.1 km half marathon will be run from the town of Moshi, Tanzania. Please note that the half marathon route is still to be finalised. This race has been set up to promote the sport in Tanzania, and has the official backing of the Tanzania Tourist Board, the Tanzania Amateur Athletics Association, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), and is registered with AIMS.

The route starts and ends in Moshi, Tanzania, and runs north towards the mountain, through rural farmland on a tarmac road, before returning on another rural dirt road to end back in Moshi. The total altitude gain is not great, and the whole race is completed between 800 and 1 120m above sea level.

The route passes through many small holder farms, villages, banana and coffee plantations and patches of forest, providing great excitement to the residents and ample vocal supporters.
The logistics of the operation are run by the Kilimanjaro Marathon Club and the members of both the Tanzania Amateur Athletics Association (TAAA) and the local Kilimanjaro Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA).

Travel arrangements and packages to access the race are being provided BMS-Travellers in the Netherlands. Our local partner Wild Frontiers, a South African, Tanzanian and Ugandan based tour operator, who are experienced in Tanzania travel and logistics and who is the largest tour operator into Tanzania from South Africa.
The race is completely backed up, with eleven water points being provided and manned by local organisations. Crowd control and traffic control are provided for, as is medical assistance and communications. Official timekeeping is arranged, as is an official prize giving and function attended by local dignitaries.

The Runners

Interest in this race is extremely high, with both the Tanzanians and Kenyans being keen to enter teams and individuals. The Athletics Associations of Ethiopia and Uganda are being approached to enter this race, as well as other countries in the region. The competition to win this race is calling some of Africa’s best marathon runners to Tanzania. This does NOT preclude the social runners, and apart from the excitement of participating in a race in such an amazing area, with Africa's highest mountain as a backdrop, this race is run in one of the best seasons of the year for additional travel to Tanzania's famous game parks (the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater - timed to coincide with the annual migration of over a million wildebeest into the Serengeti - the largest migration of these animals on the planet!), and to the Spice Island of Zanzibar, famed for it's pristine beaches and scuba diving, or other areas .

Packages to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro after the race, will be available, and to visit the parks etc as above, through BMS-Travellers.

The Prizes
Prizes down to 10th place are offered for both men and women.

The Media
Apart from local print and TV, this race will be covered extensively in international TV and radio, and of course athletics magazines. The whole event is being filmed by a contracted company for inclusion in TV channels after the event .

The Sponsors
The main sponsor has been secured as Tanzania Breweries Limited, and the official sponsor is the Kilimanjaro brand of beer! Other sponsors, to be finally confirmed, will be contributing to the medals, the watering points and also fully sponsoring their own teams.
Why not sponsor your own team ?? Contact us for more details on travel packages.

Community Involvement
Currently, projects in the rural Moshi area are being looked at to develop with funds raised from this project, such as schools and clinics which the community feels are needed - this is being done with the assistance of Mr Phil Ndesamburo and local community leaders. The local hospital in Moshi has been selected for this years race, in particular the maternity ward.

The Packages
For a complete list of our packages, please click here!