New Kurdistan badlands Marathon

Based roughly on the quote from Caliph Umar, that all Muslims should learn to ride a horse, shoot a bow, and swim, the New Kurdistan badlands marathon is one of the most grueling races in the C.I.W. The race kicks off with an archery contest. The score in the archery contest determines the racers starting position in the 2nd stage of the race. The 2nd stage of the race is horseback riding. The competitors race their horses through over 100 kilometers of difficult terrain.

The third stage of the race is the swimming and competitors swim must swim across the Shin Derayace, a one-kilometer swim. Racers emerging from the water immediately are in the 4th and final stage of the New Kurdistan badlands marathon. The 300-kilometer foot race through dangerous desert terrain.

The temperatures in the New Kurdistan Badlands can shoot up to 40c and plunge to –4c at night. Nor does bad weather stop the race. In the 178 years the race has been run flash floods have killed 27 racers.
The race starts every year after Eid-al-Fitr. In fact the first non-Kurd to win the race Abdulrahman Muhammed of New Malaysia, arrived on New Kurdistan two days before the start of Ramadan and walked the course twice before Eid. Many series competitors now do this; even some non-racers will do it. Walking the course during the day and reading Quran and performing Tarawih prayers at night. They call this performing Abdulrahman’s quest.

Some racers have started to pick up the tactic of running at night, navigating by the stars and sleeping during the day. Some racers from new Tajikistan, whom lay out during the day allowing their skin’s chlorophyll to rebuild their bodies’ energy reserves, have used this tactic very effectively. A tactic made even more effective by the fact that the racers must carry all their own food and water. There are only four water stations along the racecourse, not including the lake they must swim.

The entire race is broadcast 24 hours a day for the entire 15 days it normally takes the last runners to make it to the finish line, on New Kurdistan channel seven. During the race much of the planet will be glued to the coverage cheering on their favorite runners. All along the racecourse you can see the channel seven monitoring drones hovering above the ground. They also allow race officials to monitor the race for safety concerns and to make sure there are no rule violations. On occasion racers have tried to bury food and water supplies in violation of the race rules.