Marathon

Liberia hosted its first ever marathon, a growing trend throughout Africa. There was also a 10k run that we were planning on running in, that is of course until we were volunteered to do medical for the race. Athletes from all around Northern Africa came to compete for the $3,000 prize. The end point was SKD Stadium, named after the past president of Liberia Samuel K Doe.

We attended the orientation meeting, and after a 3 hour discussion about the logistics and contingency plans, several people raised their hands all with the same question, "what on earth is a marathon anyway?" Suddenly I realized that many of the people in attendance have never seen or heard of a marathon!

The racers started at 6AM in the dark, many wearing inappropriate shoes, or in some cases, no shoes at all. The roades are full of debris and man-eating potholes that I thought for sure there would be some significant orthopedic trauma. The sad thing is that we are the main hospital in town, and although we have X-ray, we have no casting material and only a few donated, padded aluminum splints to work with.

The day started out with a drizzle, and progressed to a downpour! Fortunately we had a little tent set up with a few supplies and rehydration solutions. There were printed guidelines for less than savvy providers to treat heat stroke and hypothermia. Hypothermia in Africa? They also gave us a blood pressure medication, and ibuprofen. The irony of this is that there is no indication I could imagine to give someone a blood pressure medication during a marathon, and ibuprofen can damage your kidneys in the setting of an endurance race and dehydration - both conditions common in a marathon. Many of the runners would come to the tent, say they didn't want to stay and instead finish the race, but wanted us to know that their feet hurt. I said, "OK, got it, your feet hurt but you want to finish the race... go get 'em!" and release them before one of my counterparts could start casting them or starting arduous paperwork.

As we are familiar with in the US, major events in Liberia are excellent political opportunities.

With a coming election, President Sirleaf donned her rain cap, and surrounded by guards in ties and trench coats, started down the 10K course for a photo-op with the couds. It was great to see her running in the rain alongside her people, supporting this awesome event for Liberia. Overall we had a great time, and got entirely soaked. I now have a "Monrovia marathon medical team" T-shirt to prove that I was there. During the orientation meeting, one of the local "ambulance" drivers wanted everyone to get a certificate to show their grandchildren years from now that they had participated in this historic day. They said that it was too late this year, but they would consider it for next time.