Commentary: Running a marathon in one of the world's most polluted cities

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Research fellow at Lowy Institute Rodger Shanahan ran a marathon in Cairo and shares his experience dodging traffic jams and distracted taxi ...

CAIRO: Running a marathon in a city of 19 million people that has been rated by the World Health Organisation as the world’s second most polluted city and whose legendary traffic congestion was the subject of a special study by the World Bank may not seem like everyone’s idea of a good plan.

The lack of foreign participants was probably why the marathon office that handed out the race packs was closed 36 hours before the race.For those visitors from abroad who arrived 35 hours prior , things looked grim until a random Egyptian girl alerted to my plight via the race website contacted me, picked up my race pack and delivered it to me at my hotel the night before the race.

The competitors variously ran with the traffic, sometimes against the traffic, and occasionally needed to cross the traffic. Only at the start, for a handful of kilometres, was there a barrier separating runners from cars. Informal road rules defining the relationship between the runners and the traffic became pretty clear to me early on. Creaky old buses could not be diverted – they went where they wanted, and it was not worth arguing with them.

That said, Cairo taxi drivers have a nose for business and on several occasions the old white taxis drove alongside me as I was running, asking if I wanted a lift. I’m glad to say that my conscience won the argument over my body.

 

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