Morocco 19 March: Rabat - Meknes
Our day started by spontaneous interview for cable TV, that met us on the way.
Today we bring you our report in form of photos and captions:
As we were running through Tiflet we noticed a beautiful building to our left, but unfortunately our runner was 1 km ahead and so we couldn't stop. As we neared the runner we noticed that the police and some city officials were speaking with him. It turned out that someone had seen us an hour ago and they wanted to quickly arrange a reception for us. This is an example of true Moroccan Hospitality.
Honza admired the beautiful needlework and decorative tiles in the Town-hall.
This Sheperd was so proud of his newly born lamb, he held him up like a trophy.
We all thought things couldn't get better and then we entered Khemisset for another impromptu ceremony. The City's representatives gave us a warm welcome and offered to help us in any way they could. As is tradition in these towns we were introduced to the Pacha (Mayor), Arbouni Sellam and many government representatives including Lemghili Latifa from the Department of Youth and Sport.
It is extremely rare to have a town arrange a full reception at such late notice and to offer us lunch. Well, we were simply speechless. Here is our chef preparing some delicious sandwiches.
This region of Morocco is renowned for producing some incredible athletes as we discovered when we met these two former champions, Mohamed Maguini (track and field) and Miloud Chana (3000m hurdles). They possessed tremendous energy and spirit which they now instil in the children they coach.
Departing Khemisset, we headed uphill away from the hustle and bustle of this busy town.
The magnificent landscape typical of this region.
A young boy curious about this strange group of guys that parked outside his mosque.
Mark takes a few moments to give his feet a rest.
The Harmony Run vehicle drives ahead to meet the runner at his finishing point.
We received tremendous joy and encouragement running into Meknes with these super athletes from the R.C.M Running Club. Sadik Abdelkadar, Mejdoub ReDouane, Driss el Arche an el Azrak Asmaa and Quahman Mohcine were the most impressive athletes we have met so far.
Our entry into Meknes at 8:30pm with a full police escort received a lot of attention. The local people emerged from the cafe that lined the streets to wave and cheer us on. The architecture of the city was magical and as we came to the City Centre, we could not have asked for a more beautiful backdrop for the ceremony.
Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Nelson (Homagni) Baptista (Australia), Aleksander Namitabha Arsic (Serbia), Marc Schrader (Germany), Honza Minarcik (Czech Republic), Zoltán Theobald (Hungary), Pierre Lantuas Monfouga (France), Enrico Eugenio (Italy)
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