Some other side of the 2014 Mt. Cameroon Race of Hope

Mbatcha Eric - First place male athlete

10,000,000 CFA Francs instead of 3 000 000 for the cash prize, a quinquagenarian  queen of the mountain Sarah Liengu Etonge attempting to successfully ride the mountain again,  and renewed excitement about the Mt Cameroon Race of Hope due to  a corporate takeover of sponsorship.

The 2014 edition of the Mt Cameroon Race of Hope had all the trappings of a memorable event. In the men’s category, 15 time racer Mbatcha Eric got the 10,000,000 FCFA cash prize for coming in first, ahead of last year’s winner Godlove Gabsibui who came in second. Wingo Emmanuel was third. In the women’s category, Ngalim Lizette outran last year’s winner Ngwaya Yvonne, who came in second, to claim first spot while 16 yr. old Form Five student Tata Carine came in third. 

These were the standard hallmarks and headlines of the 41 year old sporting event. Beneath all this however, there was much for onlookers and observers to feed on.

Sarah Etonge and her legendary house

                         Queen Dr Sarah Etonge did not win any of the top spots this year but she just like her much promised and awaited sure made headlines. The veteran racer honourably came in 7^th position and received much acclaim for her stature as an icon of perseverance, courage and strength. Her name was uttered severally by media persons as the house which she had been promised during the ice age had finally been built, to a liveable level at least as toilets seats were still to be installed. Now the house has been built, many observers wonder whether the veteran lady will stop racing and maybe start consulting or mentoring given that she once declared that the non-construction of the much promised house was the reason she was yet to bid farewell to the challenge of taming the Chariot of the Gods.

                     While rejoicing that this lady with little or no formal education has been able to run from anonymity to fame with nothing more than her bare strength and muscles, onlookers are questioning the underlying logic of the house prize. The main question has been the grounds for the prize: is government going to build a house for every other female athlete who equals or beats Sarah’s record? Or is this nothing going to be nothing but a decision taken discretionarily by some government official? The absence of a standard rule spelt out in ink leaves room for the perversion of merit by rumours of discrimination. Other questions too are whether this largesse is going to be extended to all the winners in all the other categories or will be the sole preserve of female racers.

The “coffin” at the race

While the crowd was watching the athletes trickle in, a whiff was panic sprouted amongst some onlookers. This was when a coffin-like box carried in across the finish line. This got many fearing that an athlete may have died. The white cloth that was used to cover the contents of the box did not help matters neither did the dangling nature of the content as it conjured images of a corpse. Fortunately this coffin was nothing more than a rectangular box and the corpse was nothing more than bananas to be shared to the returning athletes. You can imagine the sigh of relief.

Two policemen playing blind and guide for crowd control

Police and soldiers or why not volunteers

Just like in recent years, organisers once again resorted to the usual police/soldier/boy scout battalion to maintain law and order. Crowd control as well as law and order at such events is always an event organiser's nightmare. But given soldiers poor social skills, it is worth wondering why there are always called in during the Mt. Cameroon Race of Hope. If the police to crowd ration is grossly unbalanced why don't the organisers call in backup from outside Buea as is always the case during other events like strikes for example. This writer witnessed another unfortunate scene of a soldier threatening to use his firearm on a civilian. Fortunately this incident was quickly atoned for by another, comic this time around. Frustrated with not being heeded to, two policemen decided to stage a blind man and guide performance to have the crowd toe the line and they did happily.  After all these years, one can also wonder why there hasn't been greater use of volunteers as with other big sporting events. This could be another avenue for curbing any human resource deficiencies. 

 Finally 

 This year’s race was comparatively better than its past counterparts, most especially with regards to the excitement it generated amongst people in Buea. This can surely be attributed to the corporate sponsorship it received. While lauding the organisation and calling for betterments next year, it is worth reminding the organisers that there is something called barricades and serve better than the rude soldiers imported from the army barracks.

 

Ngalim Lizette-First placed female athlete