UPDATE II MAR 6 – According to this tweet from Koryo Tours, the 2015 Pyongyang Marathon is open again to tourists. It takes place as initially scheduled on Sunday April 12. Koryo will be accepting applications to take part in the race until March 16, which you can do via their website.
UPDATE FEB 23 – On Febraury 23 Koryo Tours informed us that the 2015 Pyongyang Marathon is now closed to amateur and professional foreign runners. This is due to the precautions that the country has put in place over the fear of the spread of the Ebola virus. Entry to North Korea has been closed to tourists since October 2014.
1. It’s the only time you’ll ever be able to travel around Pyongyang unaccompanied... Tourism in North Korea is not yet at a point where you can simply buy a plane ticket, turn up and then decide what to do each day on a whim. All tourists to the country need to have planned (and approved) itineraries prior to arrival, and are accompanied throughout the trip by at least two North Korean guides. In short, you can’t just rock up unannounced (unless, of course, you want to be like this guy). When it comes to the Pyongyang Marathon, however, the guides leave those running to complete the course on their own, which means you can run (or walk) the streets of Pyongyang as you like (as long as you stick to the course). This is the best way possible to see North Korea’s capital – from the street, and under your own steam, with crowds of locals cheering you on along the way.
2. You’ll be feeding an orphan for a year.... Koryo Tours is more than a travel company, with a commitment to cultural engagement and responsible tourism, including charity projects when and where possible. Koryo will be putting a portion of each person’s tour fee towards its current humanitarian appeal supplying eight orphanages in North Korea with high-nutrition meals for the kids. The funds for each person participating in the race with Koryo – whether 10k, half or full marathon – equate to 365 meals, which we ensure are delivered directly to the orphanages we work with. And so by taking part you will be providing a meal a day for a child in need for a whole year.
3. This is the closest you’ll ever get to the buzz of being a professional athlete... If you’re anything like us here at Koryo HQ, then any vague childhood dreams or ambitions of scoring the winning goal/touchdown etc, or going for gold in the Olympics, are long gone – destroyed by the discovery of beer and pizza, and the realisation that most of us are fated to be fat not fit. Amateur runners taking part in the Pyongyang Marathon (an official IAAF event), however, start and finish in the city’s centrally located Kim Il Sung Stadium, which is packed out with a capacity crowd for the race. Even if you come last, you’ll be cheered across the finishing line by 50,000-plus spectators, and if you finish among the top three in your division – and the amateur field here is slow – then a medal and place on the podium await!
4. It’ll be a breath of fresh air – literally... As much as we love Beijing, and refuse to let what passes for air here impact our lives too much, there are some things that you just shouldn’t be doing too often in the Big Smog – one of which is running around the streets on a polluted day. Indeed, there are many who trained incredibly hard for the Beijing Marathon only to be defeated by the sickening smog that day. That won’t be a problem in Pyongyang, where you’ll be able to enjoy some clean-air running in what is essentially a pollution-free city. Mornings can be misty sometimes, but it’s the kind of mist that you can actually breathe, and the lack of industry and traffic in Pyongyang results in a race where you’ll be gulping down energizing oxygen rather than demoralizing carbon.
5. Earn bragging rights over That’s Beijing.... We’ll let you into a secret: Will Philipps of this very parish took part in last year’s race, ran the full marathon and entered Kim Il Sung Stadium for the final lap in an admirable second (to last) place. Get yourself in shape and beat Will’s efforts to allow yourself the satisfaction of picking up That’s each month and saying to anyone within earshot: “Great mag; slow editors – I beat that Will Philipps in the Pyongyang Marathon, don’t you know.”
Simon Cockerell is the general manager of Koryo Tours and has been to North Korea more than 140 times since 2002. Koryo Tours has five different all-inclusive trips arranged for April 2015 for people wanting to run the Pyongyang Marathon: www.koryogroup.com/pyongyang-marathon.php
>> DEADLINE FOR MARATHON TOUR APPLICATIONS IS MON 16 FEB.
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