Where did I leave off, ah yes, the weather and hills of Fort Portal to be known as Forti from henceforth. Before I dive into how those hills kumanyira-d us, let’s talk about the road to Forti. I recently experienced this road again while heading for the Rwenzori Marathon in Kasese, and folks let’s just say that we need to bundle together as the running community and picket at Parliament till that Kyegegwa road is fixed because what the hell is that? It’s not a road, those are not potholes –is a womb shifter! It feels too personal to just be small potholes that developed into those gorges from excessive rainfall: it’s like someone excavated the road. There’s a part where the entire car enters a gorge and the hope is that it makes it to the other side. Someone tweeted, “how do tour guides explain this road to the tourists?” and a comment followed, “it’s part of the African safari experience.” Surely, we can do better than this, especially if these two marathons are going to be constant fixtures on the annual runners’ calendars. I would recommend both marathon organizers join hands to lobby the powers that be, come next year the road is fixed. Runners shouldn’t be travelling over 490 km (give or take) through Mbarara -Ishaka to get to that part of the country, looking for a smoother route, yet Kampala to Forti via Mubende is approximately 290 km. It’s not cost effective in terms of preparation time for the runners and moneywise. I do hope my cries reach the right ears, although like I said before I am a “fun runner.”
For those who do manage to survive the gorges, get past the forest with the colobus monkeys, then begin the ascend into the famous tea plantations on both sides of the road, such a beautiful view. I understand why the colonizers stayed!I don’t need to explain the air quality from here onwards: I wanted to bottle it up and keep as a reminder that I was here. The cleanliness of the town hits right before the post office. As a Kampala dweller, I’m used to seeing heaps of rubbish on the road side, not in Forti. I actually think most of us carried our bad habits of littering to Forti, kwonka let me put a pin in this, I shall return to it. As I mentioned earlier, our first stop was Boma Grounds, to pick our kits. The tents had already been put up and some of the exhibitors and sponsors were displaying their products, brochures etc. One of the exhibitors was Uganda Driver Licensing System (UDLS) they get a mention from me because our driver for this trip had an expired driving license, I know! And it wasn’t like one-month old nooooo, like 5 years! Meanwhile he shared this information with us along the way, guys, do you know how many police stops they are on this road?? Sigh! Ugandans don’t fear danger. As a group, when we saw the UDLS people: we forced him to go and renew his permit. The gentleman manning the stall was so helpful. When he asked us whether we could make room for him to direct us to their office that is down the road from Boma – we were more than happy to. We waited in the car for not longer than twenty minutes, as our driver (then demoted to passenger) registered. We dropped the gentleman back to Boma grounds, and proceeded to settle into our hotels and prepare for the evening which was basically have a good meal and sleep early (for most of us, though there were ninjas who went out and had a good time.)
The Noah crew at the starting line . Look at those excited faces, so ignorant of what the hills are about to do to us.
On Thursday 17th July,2025 at 17:04, we all received the start times for the different distances, the first being the 42.2 KM who were to start at 6:45 a.m., followed by 21. 1 KM at 7:15 a.m, then itwe aba fun runners 10 km at 7:30 a.m. and 5 KM at 7:45 a.m.. The goal was to be the start line by 6:30 a.m., since we had a mix of runners in our group,slight delays here and there we arrived at 6:40 a.m. and the energy in the air was electric. By the time we were entering Boma grounds all the sleepiness has disappeared, people were pumped up and ready to go. There was music blaring from speakers all over, people taking selfies and group pictures with the standard millennial peace sign (looking all fresh, innocent and ignorant), the conversations here are different from after the race. Here people are optimistic: talking about “I haven’t seen the route properly but I’ll just wing it, how bad can it be?”“I’m running only 10 KM, still recovering from the last run______ (Insert whatever marathon was before this)I got a hamstring injury…” “My guy, those shoes look new, you know it’s not advised to test run new shoes on marathon day, shall you make it?” and on and on they go. The way runners address each other, it’s like they’re going to war, I see you, Kamanda! Are you ready my leader? Sub 4:40? And indeed, it is war. I would like to commend the organizers who made sure we started on time, this really helped with the angst, standing around, doing awkward stretches or engaging in those round-about conversations. I thank the organizers for making the warm up sessions exactly that! There’s a run I went for, the cheza dance instructor didn’t get the memo that we were supposed to run after.
Our MCs Andrew Mwanguhya and Simon Kasyate did a fantastic job keeping us updated on who was going next and the time. For the 10 KM we delayed by fifteen minutes because the 21 KM guys had detoured and were being rerouted back to the normal path. So, we started at 7:45 a.m. and off we went. I need you people to understand that Forti has hills, so you are either going down one or climbing up another. We began by going down many hills, hit the main highway and our first stop was the Shell Petrol station (with Endiro) the first hydration point. As we walked on towards the market, we were directed by the marshals to cross the road and stay on the side we could see the traffic heading towards us (this is very important) The next hydration point was the Rwenzori Marathon point that was towards the stadium. This was my second favourite point and no, it’s not because I knew the ladies at this point. Okay, maybe a tidbit, kwonka they had good energy, and Maren (the most Ugandan muzungu I know) took a nice picture of the group who had arrived together at that point together. The first group’s team lead was holding up a kapande saying, “Smile, remember you paid to do this” Lol! And its true we did pay for this madness. The next hill after the stadium led us to a little treasure that we (the Noah crew) had been looking for, a pork joint! The native we had travelled with, hadn’t been back there since before COVID, she was not helpful in finding joints, however the route we walked on took us right past one and we came out at the round about with the clock that is on Lugard Road and the next hydration point was right outside Andrew & Brothers supermarket. We didn’t stop here however little fact about this supermarket: its been in operation for 35 years, that’s a full-grown tax paying adult, if those walls could talk. We crossed the road and ended back on the Fort Portal- Kampala highway road passed the Shell (with Endiro) and then came the winding road.
We did smile.The pork joint.
Folks, as a walker of the hills of Kampala, I try to map my routes with minimal hills especially towards the end of the walk. Why? Because ain’t nobody gat time for them! You’re exhausted, out of breath, dehydrated and sometimes seeing those black dots…everything hurts, you just want to reach home. So, when we reached this winding road and it was an up-hill walk – my walking partner, stopped talking to me. She literally shhh-d me when I was trying to encourage her with the little distance markers :4km left, 2Km left. She was annoyed with me, I thanked God I couldn’t read her mind but I could read her face. I kept my eyes ahead and as we got closer to the music, I turned to her, with so much glee, “we are almost doneeee!” She didn’t bat an eyelid. Now as we approached the finish line, I heard Kasyate saying, “here come our champions” I looked behind and we were the only ones and he repeated it, I turned to my walking partner and asked her, “does he mean us?” We immediately burst out laughing, because we really did not consider ourselves champions. It turns out that they clapped for everyone who managed to cross the finish line, some claps were louder than others (and rightly so) I loved it. We received our medals and were given a small gift bag that contain snacks, water, sweets, and a fruit (I loved this) a replenishing pack of sorts, this was so needed because our bodies lost a lot of nutrients and minerals on those hills. As we looked around for our crew and waited for the ones still out, guess who arrives about 40 minutes after us Cosmas Olemukan! Guys, just go and look for this wonder of God’s creation. I just can’t get over how he run 42 km and then proceeded to the body garage to work. He was the first 42 km runner to cross the finish line in 2: 53: 42. I keep telling people in this community its best to #StickInYourLane or else ojja kukola error!
laughing our way across the finish line.Cosmas is a huge advocate for before and after body care. His team have mastered the art of catering to runners repair needs.
You’d think after covering that distance he would be exhausted, hmmm! How did he proceed to the tent section housing the Body Garage?The body garage is exactly that a repair shop for the body, runners flock this area every after a race. If you can stand the nauseating smell of deep heat and sweat, I would highly recommend this especially for the long-distance runners. These massages and stretches help the runners not to walk like newly born baby giraffes the next day(s): once the adrenaline dies down, it’s a whole different story.
The next hurdle for our crew was breakfast. The hunger after these damn things is real! I’m not much of an eater, I have a condition called “optical nutrition” which means I get full by the sight of cooked food. However, since I started walking, this has become a rumor. The hunt for breakfast became a proper hunt, the caterer at the venue seemed to be overwhelmed by the numbers, we decided to go to the hotel and have a proper breakfast before that weird side headache checked in. This sadly is how we missed the arrival and prize giving by the His Majesty King Oyo of Tooro. However, we thank God for the power of social media, that enables us to share endless videos and pictures; its almost like we were there. It was a heart-warming sight, seeing grown folk kneel before the King. Having His Royal Highness make an appearance was literally a stamp of approval for the marathon. Kudos to the organizers.
His Majesty King Oyo of Tooro Kingdom posing with the winners of the different distances.
At breakfast, the conversation swiftly turned to “what’s the proggie?” like I said the mind of runners is really special. Everyone was talking about Brunch In The Wild (dancehall edition) at Kalitusi Nature Resort. As a group, we decided to first go to our rooms, get so fresh and so clean, nap and hydrate then meet back in a couple of hours and go to the pork joint to prepare for what was about to hit us at Brunch. We did manage to squeeze in a visit to Nyakasura School and the Amabere Caves. Forti has such a rich history,I didn’t get to go to all the places I had wanted to however I do hope that for 2026, the FPCM team could include itinerary of different spots to visit in the magazine and maybe offer discounts to the marathoners.(just a thought)More views
Hatiya, what happened in Kalitusi stays in Kalitusi, Lol! The organizers of that event were smiling all the way to the bank. Imagine an outdoor area surrounded by trees with runners/walkers from over 12 different clubs in that space. Where you entered, is where you stood, that’s how packed it was, I won’t go into details but those DJs please they mowaaaa them! Remember when I told you that the Communications person of this marathon needed a raise? Well, as we were enjoying ourselves, the link to the official results was sent via SMS, immediately the conversation changed at the different tables, people started sharing their results: and yes, the ego talk returned, “my strava recorded this and yet here it’s saying this” “That hill after the 14km is where I lagged, next time I’ll have to pace myself bulungi,” on and on they went but the DJ as I said drew us back to the matters at hand. The enjoyment was enjoyed. It was a fantastic end to a beautiful day and for this I thank the organizers.
On Sunday morning, as we prepared to head back to Kampala: I can’t say that we were filled with glee. If anything, we were dragging ourselves. A friend recommended we go to Fort Motel for breakfast, said the view was amazing. As we took in Forti one last time before heading to dusty, overcrowded, noisy Kampala: we received a thank you SMS from the FPCM team, it read, “… Your energy, passion & support made it a great success. Glad we had you this year. See you 2026.” At this point, temukiwa Comms. Person yakisusiza. Kudos and Well done!!
Fort Portal crater lakes
Before I close off, i’ll drag us back to the rubbish issue ,companies now are focusing on ESG – what is ESG? Well, ESG stands for Environmental, Social & Governance impact, a framework aimed to promote a holistic view that sustainability extends beyond just financing projects. In line with the Environmental impact, my ask for FPCM team for 2026, is to add dustbins -branded (of course) along the routes and when sharing the maps of the different distances, show the dustbins as well, so that runners/walkers are aware of the different places they can dispose of the empty bottles, banana peels, paper wrappers etc. And to move this forward, the team could partner with the city council or the bottle collectors who exchange them for money as part of their CSR project in addition to the tree planting venture to combat climate change.
On that note, I’ll end with this….Fort Portal really does not owe me anything,ON!ON! to 2026!!
