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.
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Cami Wilson 2/20/13 12:55 PM Deleted: gather Digital Humanities 2/19/13 5:42 PM Comment [1]: What time? When do people gather on Easter Island to run? Cami Wilson 2/20/13 12:56 PM Deleted: 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. Cami Wilson 2/20/13 1:01 PM Deleted: and
The History of the Island The Dutch travelers who discovered the island back in 1722 named it Easter
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Island because they came upon the island on Easter Sunday. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is
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in the southeastern Pacific Ocean and is a special territory of Chile. But Easter Island is
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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
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passing these moai is the best part of the marathon. While running, the runners pass the
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beautiful landscape of the coastline and run amongst the imposing heads of the maoi.
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Rodrigo says that all the runners love the turn-around point in the mysterious Anakena
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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
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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-
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back in population and a revival of its culture. Even still, this dramatic population
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decrease remains one of the great mysteries of the past.
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The Creation of the Marathon
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Rodrigo Salas Moncada of Olimpo Productions created the Easter Island
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marathon in 2000. He started traveling to Easter Island as a native from Chile in 1989 and
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has now traveled there more than a hundred times. Rodrigo has also organized the
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Santiago, Chile marathon for sixteen years. He has run many marathons including
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running the the New York City Marathon fourteen times; the Moscow, Russia Marathon
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twice; and the Boston Marathon twice. Talk about a true runner! Rodrigo is devoted to
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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
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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
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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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