Barefoot
The Yangon International Marathon was held in the early hours of Sunday so as to try and beat the heat and traffic.
Though the turnout of the who’s who of the international marathon community was very high, the participation and support by and of the Burmese was truly amazing. One comment made to me by several race officials was, “there might be more media here than runners”. True or not, the interest in this event was very high and will undoubtedly will only grow in the years to come.
Though much will be said in the international media about the challenges of getting to Burma, the usual glitches of this or that, and the great times posted by the Kenyan runners Joseph Gitau Kitaku and Onesmus Muindi, for this blog post I wanted to focus on.... Feet.
A number of Burmese ran both the 10K and the 42K races bare foot. This fact, in and of itself, is astounding to anyone who has ever run barefoot but then to do so on the streets of downtown Yangon is a testament to the incredible spirit and strength of the people of Burma.
Here are just a few images of feet and their owner’s faces.
Thank you to David Shin for providing unprecedented access to the race.
I look forward to seeing you out there.
Julian Ray
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