Botswana Move-a-Thon

Elliot and Mitchell before the start

On the morning of October 11th, Elliot and Mitchell participated in the first International John Stanford International School Move-a-Thon, riding their bikes around the perimeter of the Thornhill Primary School campus for four hours. The Move-a-Thon is an annual JSIS fundraiser that helps cover the salaries of the instructional assistants in the language classrooms.  Keeping with the international spirit of the event, family members pledged pula, the Botswana unit of currency, for each 2 kilometers the boys rode (2 km was roughly the equivalent of three laps around the school).  Nikki Loseff, a classmate of Elliot's at JSIS who is spending the year with her family in Ecuador, also participated making the event truly international.

The route

The start at the school gate

Remember to keep left!

Single-track near the Art of Living Daycare

Past the Japanese family's house

Around the back of the school

Single-track past the back gate

Single-track past the termite mound

Mitchell approaching the start

The forecast was for 85 degrees and Elliot and Mitchell were both a bit sick the week before the event, so we figured they would only be able to ride for two to three hours, but the weather was vintage Seattle and perfect for riding; overcast skies, cool, with intermittent light drizzle (the Setswana word for rain is also, not surprisingly, "pula", as rain is valuable around these parts).  They rode from 8:35 AM to 12:35 PM with only a handful of brief stops for water and snacks.

Cranking down the backstretch near the start

Elliot completed 74 laps and Mitchell completed 62.  I measured the route with the GPS application on my iPhone a few more times and it averaged .45 miles (.724 km), which was a slightly longer than my first measurement.  Their totals were:

Elliot - 53.6 km (33.3 miles)

Mitchell - 44.9 km (27.9 miles)

The final tally

With these totals, they both exceeded their distances from last year's Move-a-Thon.  One advantage to the route here was that it was a continuous loop, so they didn't have to slow down to turn around and get their punch cards punched, as they must do every half mile on the Burke Gilman trail in Seattle.  Nor did they have to navigate through the throngs of JSIS kids along the trail.  Most of the time I simply stood at the start near the front gate of the school tallying their laps and chatting and playing soccer with the guards, who thought we were out of our minds.

The end of Elliot's final Move-a-Thon!

Elliot and Mitchell were spent at the end!