Great Tibetan Marathon
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The annually recurring Great Tibetan Marathon is a so-called Adventure marathon. It takes place on the Tibetan Plateau in northern India - also known as little Tibet.
The Great Tibetan Marathon gets its uncommomness from the fact that it happens in an altitude of 3,500 meters in spiritual Buddhist surroundings. The high altitude makes the oxygen level extremely low and the marathon equally more physically challenging. But the position in the Himalayan mountains also gives an unparalelled dimension of beauty to the marathon.
An extra feature is the atmosphere of the Tibetan Buddhism that rubs off on the whole adventure. The start of the marathon will be blown on long Buddhist horns, instead of the traditional shot by a starting pistol, and all runners are blessed by Buddhist monks, who also serve as helpers along the way.
The 2007 version of year The Great Tibetan Marathon took place on July 21 with a small, exclusive field of runners from the whole world. The runners were competing in the distances: marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K. The fastest male marathon runner was Danish Jan Petersen by 3:22:06, and the first female marathoner over the finish line was Lykke P. Andersen, also from Denmark, by 4:36:57. Both runners were more than 20 minutes ahead of their nearest follower.
In 2008 the date of this spiritual marathon is July 19.
