Pyramid Racing – Part 3

On June 21^st the races on the Pyramid of Menkaure start at 6am, those on Khafre at 10am, and on the Great Pyramid at 2pm. All the races on Menkaure and Khafre are normal pyramid races as is the first race for each contestant on the Great Pyramid. However, in the “Race to the Stars”, the 16 semi-finalists go to the top of the pyramid twice and collect a separate Thoth each time. In the final race, the four athletes have to collect four Thoths, climbing nearly 1800 feet to the top during their four separate visits.

The only person who has won the “Race to the Stars” more than twice is the Algerian marathon runner Ahmed al-Mansouri, who has won four times including unprecedented consecutive wins in 1978 and 1979. Al-Mansouri gradually progressed through the various levels winning the Step Pyramid race in 1970, the Menkaure race in 1973 and the Khafre race in 1975. He qualified for fourteen consecutive “Race to the Stars” between 1976 and 1989, which is also a record. He eventuality retired due to a persistent knee injury, a problem that was exacerbated by the jarring experienced descending the pyramid.

Extract from Sports the Olympics Forgot