Liberia Marathon - can't start a fire without a spark

by Friederike Moellers

I don’t know why that famous Bruce Springsteen song came to my mind when thinking about the running culture in Liberia, but it likely was the line ‘you can’t start a fire without a spark’ that triggered this resonance.

When we started building the bank in 2009 seeing people running out on the street for pure athletic reasons was an impossible sight. Obviously, the country was still recovering from a devastating civil war and topics such as healthy lifestyles and getting fit was clearly subjugated to ‘making ends meet’ and getting back on track.

One breakthrough leading to increasing passion for running was the 2013 Liberia Marathon; afterwards one could observe the occasional early morning runners and groups such as HillSac, the athletic and community building club that formed as early as 2005, picked up their pace including growing levels of athletes joining their daily trainings on the hill where Benson Street meets UN Drive. When visiting our bank in 2016, I was amazed how running became almost a sport of the masses – seeing early morning or late evening runners out on the streets of Monrovia became a daily attraction to be witnessed. While Liberians have always had enthusiasm for sports – soccer without a doubt and the ladies’ version of kickball being testimonial to that – running now became firmly established.

This years’ National Marathon, which took place on the 21st?of August and was organized by an incredibly committed team, was a definite highlight for the country’s running community and their supporters. The event attracted international attention, both in terms of participants but also in terms of media coverage, and those Liberian companies most dedicated to the development of their country have not failed to play their part by sponsoring the event. No doubt, AccessBank Liberia has been on that list!

And not only did the bank support the event by sponsoring, or by offering our branch spaces for registration purposes, and being present with our own merchandise during that day, no, we even send a delegation of our boldest runners to the competition – and boy, they did not disappoint! For example, the first AccessBank female finisher was Deborah Payne, who run the race together with her son. Congratulations Deborah

The Liberian Marathon has been an incredible success, especially because of the very diverse categories to compete in. In addition to the full marathon, people could also enter the half marathon, the 10k race, and for those with special abilities, the organizers offered a race on crutches and a wheelchair race. Now, can you imagine that the winner of the race on crutches only took 1:01hr to finish the 10k? This is remarkable, and a great testimonial to the strength and resilience of the Liberian nation that I have admired time and time again.

A big thank you goes out to the entire staff of AccessBank Liberia, all the runners that joined the race, the CEO Roberto Randrianarison, ITB for deciding to support the event and the Marketing Manager Anthony for actually making it happen!

Go AccessBank Liberia - stay fit and healthy! And of course, keep pushing for making our bank the best financial institution in the country!