Guinness resumes Mt Cameroon race sponsorship

After 21 years in the cold, Guinness Cameroun SA has returned to bear the flag of the Mt Cameroun Race which it christened “The Race of Hope”. This was announced during the signing of a convention linking the international brewery giant (owned by Diageo PLC, a South African Company) and the Cameroun athletics federation, on August 26, 2013 at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel. Present to witness the signing ceremony were the minister of sports and physical education, Adoum Garoua, the president of the national Olympic and sports committee, Kalkaba Malboum, football icon, Roger Milla, and emblematic mountaineer, Sarah Lyonga Etonge.

The sports minister hailed the accord as a decisive turn in the public/private partnership in sports which he sees as the way forward for Cameroon to come out of the crises of sponsorship in the national sports movement. He called for other disciplines to follow suit and contract sponsorship deals with private sector operators and called for the socio-cultural aspect of the Mt. Cameroon Race to be boosted so that it can become a true touristic event of the rank of an international crowd puller.

Guinness Cameroon S.A. general manager, Kenyan born Baker Magunda, said the agreement was historic for his company. He said although the company left 21 years ago for “its own reasons”, they were determined this time to make it the biggest sporting event of its kind in Cameroon and even Africa. Reason why athletics federation president, Motomby Emmanuel, said Buea stands to become the number one tourist destination in Cameroon.

The Marketing Director of Guinness Cameroon, Francis Mbongue announced several innovations, including the creation of three categories, the full race (38.7 km) from base to summit, the half race (15 km) from base and the short race (5 km). He added that this year, to make the race more popular, all who had taken part in the race for the past three years, will be participating without registration expenses while newcomers will register with a meagre 5,000 FCFA, and this from all major towns in Cameroon. He said conscious of the fact that the race is the most challenging endurance exercise in the world, a series of prequalification races will be organised in various towns in the country in the build up to the race.

To put the icing on the cake, Guinness Cameroon, one of the most magnanimous companies Cameroon has ever known (remember the Prados offered to lucky winners in 2006), announced that it had upped the prize to 10 million FCFA for the female winner and same for the male, with the increase also affecting all other prize categories. In addition, the company will provide all the sports equipment for participating athletes and, yes your eyes are not playing you tricks, offer a fully refurbished house to racing icon and queen of the mountain, Sarah Lyonga Etongue!

One can therefore conclude that the disorganisation with which the race was fraught in the past years is now history. In fact who will not want to participate in the race under such conditions? It is also hoped that Magunda will whip up support in his home country and East Africa where the continent’s and even the world’s toughest competitors in the long races are found. The athletics federation president, Motomby Emmanuel, then took a rendezvous in Buea with all race lovers for the event on February 15, 2014, which he took the pains to declare as tentative, though.