Stowaway Off the Beaten Path Word Count: 763

The Easter Island Marathon

Amidst the larger-than-life statues of ancient gods called the maoi, runners from all over

the world gather for the Easter Island Marathon. With a population of only five thousand

people, Easter Island is one of the grandest mysteries of Earth’s history. The once nearly

deserted island is one of the most remote places one can dare to travel. The Easter Island

Marathon falls into the category of extreme-travel marathons like the Antarctica

Marathon and the Galapagos Islands Marathon. Runners must be dedicated to their sport

to come all the way out to Easter Island for a race.

The History of the Island

The Dutch travelers who discovered the island back in 1722 named it Easter

Island because they came upon the island on Easter Sunday. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is

in the southeastern Pacific Ocean and is a special territory of Chile. But Easter Island is

still 2,182 miles away from Chile, and 1,289 miles away from the closest island, Pitcairn

Island—making it truly smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

The island is famous for the 887 giant statues made out of volcanic ash or moai

that fill its horizon. These statues, the ancient residents believed, were a medium for

connecting the living with the dead.

Rodrigo Salas, the Easter Island marathon creator and coordinator, says that

passing these moai is the best part of the marathon. While running, the runners pass the

beautiful landscape of the coastline and run amongst the imposing heads of the maoi.

Rodrigo says that all the runners love the turn-around point in the mysterious Anakena

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Cami Wilson � 2/20/13 12:56 PMDeleted: gather to run a a marathon on Easter Island. Easter Island is where they gather to run—a once nearly desertedn island in the middle of nowhere that was once nearly completely deserted.

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beach which is surrounded by the moai. Here the runners feel they are transported into an

ancient world where the statues symbolize the gods. Rodrigo says that the runners who

experience the wonder of the moai experience “the honor to feel the ‘mana’ or blessing of

the island’s gods.”

These moai heads are still a puzzle to anthropologists: how did they create these

huge figures? Why were they so important? What exactly did they represent?

Archaeologists estimate that the creating of the heads caused much deforestation—

making it so many trees and birds became extinct on the island. This deforestation

combined with other dangers like internal war, European diseases, and kidnapping

dramatically decreased population. By the end of the nineteenth century, 97% of Easter

Island’s population was either dead or gone. Since then, Easter Island has had a come-

back in population and a revival of its culture. Even still, this dramatic population

decrease remains one of the great mysteries of the past.

The Creation of the Marathon

Rodrigo Salas Moncada of Olimpo Productions created the Easter Island

marathon in 2000. He started traveling to Easter Island as a native from Chile in 1989 and

has now traveled there more than a hundred times. Rodrigo has also organized the

Santiago, Chile marathon for sixteen years. He has run many marathons including

running the the New York City Marathon fourteen times; the Moscow, Russia Marathon

twice; and the Boston Marathon twice. Talk about a true runner! Rodrigo is devoted to

the world of running.

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Rodrigo says that he created the marathon on Easter Island because of the

beautiful scenery and the island’s rich history. “I thought that Rapa Nui was a great place

to run a marathon. Running in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in the most isolated island

in the world is a unique experience.”

The Marathon Today

This year, in the beginning of June, 250 international runners can enjoy a six-day

stay at the Taha Tai Hotel right on the coastline of Easter Island. On June 2, they will

gather to run a 10k, a half-marathon, or a marathon around part of Easter Island’s 63.17

square miles. While running, they pass the beautiful landscape of the coastline and run

amongst the imposing heads of the maoi. They can sense the history of the island and its

utter remoteness as they look out onto the ocean horizon. After the run, they congregate

to have a special award ceremony to celebrate the few that dared to travel to the remotest

island on Earth. Rodrigo comments that the award ceremony is one big party where the

runners combine with the locals to participate in “folkdance, music, and movies of the

weekend. [There are] a lot of friendships among the runners.”

Rodrigo is happy to bring people together to run a race few in the world have ever

run. For him, the reward is to see people enjoy what he has created. Who wouldn’t enjoy

the thrill of running a marathon on one of the most mysterious islands in the history of

the world?

For more information on the race, go to marathontours.com and search for the Easter

Island marathon.

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