Found this old email Ryan sent out to our NDXC alumni email list and thought some might like to hear a Shay story in his own words. It was his post-race report from Mombasa this last year.
To clarify, the Wolf and Kettle Shay mentions was a horrible XC meet contested in 1998 between Loyola, Butler and Notre Dame. It was 100 degrees and on a 1m loop that had 2 massive hills each lap. Shay was runner-up to Julius Mwangi in like low 25:00 (and this is the year Mwangi was runnerup to Goucher at NC's!)
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I just got back from Worlds and let me tell you all...it made Wolf and Kettle seem like a frozen foot race. That was the most ridiculously hot race I've ever run. It was 97 degrees and very humid. It was like the bayou in Louisiana. I ran like shit. I really cannot recall the second half of the race other than people shouting shit about Bush at me. I lost my hearing by the end of the race and then lost consciousness from heat stroke for about 2min (according to the USATF Dr. I cannot remember any of it. He said that the people were trying to take me away on a stretcher, but he would not let them. Security was very, very tight. I guess they were afraid I would be taken to some unknown hospital or something.
We had an armed police and/or military escort where ever we went and we had to do everything as a group. Our escorts were armed with machine guns and we had two U.S. special forces agents as our liasons. We traveled by bus with police leading and following making sure all traffic was off the road where ever we drove. One time in the afternoon
traffic was really bad and they did not want us stuck in a traffic jam so the bus hopped the median and went against traffic with the police forcing drivers off the road. It was like a chase scene from a movie. I guess they were worried about a suicide car bomber driving into us. Even on our runs we had escorts on bikes and they would do a sweep of our route to make sure it was safe. It was crazy. We were untouchable.
Even when we walked the shops of old town in Mombasa, the armed military guards cleared everyone out so we could walk the streets because it was an 80% Muslim population. One shop owner grabbed one of our Kenyan liaisons by the arm to bring him into his shop and a Kenyan military guard immediately slammed him against the wall. They were not messing around or taking any chances. I thought it was quite over the top, but I guess we all made it back safe.
I enjoyed my experience there and I'm very glad I went. I
cannot say I would ever go back, except maybe to do charity/missionary work. We visited the poorest school I've ever seen. It really made every American there appreciate the States so much. Anyone who bitches about our poor here, have no idea what poverty really is. This school was basically a run down shack over taken by filth. We went there to donate shoes and just meet some of these kids.
What I'll remember most though is just how hot and humid it was. Just sitting around, everyone would drip sweat. I went through at least 3 shirts a day and just began to recycle them. It smelled so bad there, it did not really matter.
Oh, and Marc, your fellow Canadians had a tough go 'round too. While I was warming up, they brought in a Canadian Junior girl who was screaming bloody murder and kept saying she could not see and if here eyes were open or shut. She then asked for a cell phone to call her parents. She said she wanted to talk to them before she died. It was a death march.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the sand. By the time the senior men went, it was nothing but a dust bowl. Just about he entire course felt like it was in sand. I think there were about 6 or 7 sand traps per loop. Just added to the misery, not to mention all the sharp turns. It had to be one of the worst course ever. The only good thing is that it was very flat.
So, that's my short report on Mombasa.