I ran the marathon last November. Can you direct me to the web site where the marathon finish times and photos are?

Photo: Trabajadores Newspaper
Photo: Trabajadores Newspaper

The official site of Marabana – Maracuba, the name for the main annual marathon that takes place in Cuba, is www.inder.cu/beta/competitions/marabana

If you go to the main page and click under Estadisticas (Statistics), you will find a detailed listing of all finish times in all categories of the marathon. As of March 2009, results are listed from the first Marabana held in 1987 up through the latest in 2008.

If you click under Galeria de Fotos (Photo Gallery), you will find photos covering all aspects of the event. As of March 2009, the latest photos appear to be for Marabana 2007, but it is anticipated that photos for 2008 will soon be posted.

There is also a page available in English that provides detailed information for those who want to participate in the Marabana competitions. See http://www.inder.cu/beta/competitions/marathon&race/marabana/sp/index.html

From within Cuba, you can contact the head offices of Marabana – Maracuba in Havana by phone at 641-0911. Their email address is [email protected]

Background of Marabana-Maracuba

Since 1987, Marabana has been held in Havana during the month of November. Starting and finishing in Old Havana, it consists of a marathon (42 km), a half marathon (21 km), and mini-runs (5-10-15 km) in a circuit around the most central avenues in Havana. Runners, many of them well-known international champions, come from around the world to participate.

Held every year on the third Sunday of November, Marabana also marks the national day of Physical Culture and Sports as well as the founding of the Villa de San Cristobal de La Havana. Maracuba, taking place the same time as Marabana, is held in all municipalities around the country, with walks and runs covering 3,000 and 4,000 metre circuits.

Marabana events include everything from Elite runners, to Masters, Handicapped (blind, deaf and wheelchairs) and runners with Special Educational needs, with competitions for men and women.

Visitors to Cuba, and especially Canadians, may want to participate in the non-competitive annual Terry Fox Run, which began in Cuba in 1998 and forms a part of the official calendar of Maracuba. Normally scheduled for the third Saturday of March, in 2008 over 2.9 million people participated in over 5,000 runs throughout Cuba to raise money for cancer research. That year, almost $33,000 Canadian was raised and donated to the Havana-based Instituto de Oncología y Radiobiología. Outside Canada, Cuba’s Terry Fox Run is the largest to take place in over fifty countries around the world.

Organized by the Canadian Embassy in collaboration with INDER (Cuba’s Sports Ministry) and other Cuban ministries, the event is inspired by the life of Terry Fox, an 18-year-old Canadian who lost his life to cancer, but not before inspiring millions at home and abroad with his cross-Canada Marathon of Hope (on one leg) to raise money for cancer research. For more information on the run, call the Embassy at 204-2516 or 204-2517.