This past Saturday, May 10th, a group of friends and I coordinated a sprint triathlon in our area of Accra. It was incredible. My roommate, Margaret, had the idea several months ago to do a triathlon with a couple of friends. As interest grew so did the triathlon until it was determined that is should be a fund raiser. Each person, whether participating as an individual or team, had an entry fee of 100 cedis. They could get donors or just pay it themselves. The money collected was given to a mission organization called SIM who has a strong program in the north of Ghana where they are helping flood victims from last year rebuild their homes and plant crops. We had 3 teams and 9 individual participants. Most of my friends were either participants or volunteers and it was just great. Several people who will be here for the next few years are hoping to make it an annual event.
The day started at 5am when Mags and I got up to go to Lincoln School where the triathlon would start in their pool. We had adult volunteers dropping off student volunteers at their stations, putting up signs, registering people and collecting money, etc. etc. It was a little chaotic at first but overall everything went well. The swimming phase went off smoothly but the bike phase had a few more challenges. The bikers rode through a fairly busy section of Dzorwulu, across a major road, through part of the forest preserve on rough dirt roads, a big loop in the University campus and then back along aside a major road to the forest preserve entrance. They are brave people and had to be very careful. We had two people, Jane and Mags, who had flat tires but we were able to grab bikes from those who were already running so they could finish the race. The final phase was the running and that was done in the forest preserve. I didn't realize that this preserve is primarily used for church groups to meet throughout the week to pray. There are marked out and numbered areas that can be reserved. In the states we would have these sections reserved for picnics, etc. but here they are reserved for groups to pray. As the participants ran their 4 loops we listened to people praying and singing. It was rather interesting.
The whole triathlon went off well. There was only one biking accident that resulted in just a scraped knee. Nobody passed out or got sick in spite of the strong heat and humidity. And no one got hit by a car. It was just wonderful and we praise the Lord for His protection over everyone.
My job in this thing was to register people and collect their money (of course:)), answer innumerable questions, drive all over the bike course to make sure everyone was safe and there weren't any injuries, take pictures, take bikes to those who had flats, direct volunteers and people, ...and did I mention answer questions? It was great. Even though I didn't do one bit of the actual triathlon, I was completely exhausted from the heat and running all over the place. But it was so much fun. I loved helping out and cheering on the participants. I loved seeing my friends and co-workers out in the heat cheering on friends. Lee and Michelle's son, TJ, did the running phase for a team and he did a great job. It was just really fun to join together with friends in this event and I am so grateful for the opportunity. And to raise $1800 to help Ghanaians who desperately need it made the whole thing worthwhile.
I hope that those who will be here next year will do this event again and raise money for another program. Perhaps it could become an annual event and maybe even grow in participation and fund raising. Wouldn't that be great?
I have posted some pictures below and also put a link on the side bar if you want to see more pictures from the day.
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