"The Happiest 5K on the Planet"
This weekend, I had the pleasure of partaking in a great little event held every year in Brighton. It’s called “The Color Run” where all proceeds from the event are donated towards helping the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children).
For many years, the NSPCC has come to the aid of countless children who needed help desperately, covering important areas such as the neglected and abused all the way through to child trafficking to other countries for prostitution work. So even though the event itself is great fun, it actually contributes greatly to an extremely serious cause that could help change and save many young lives.
The event itself is a color run which basically involves making your way along a section of Brighton beach from one end to the other and back again totalling 5,000 km. The event is not a competitive race as such because people of all ages can participate so there were many walkers as well as runners taking part.
The message driven home for the entire race is to just have fun and celebrate together through the power of color. Each year, the theme of colors used in the race changes. This year they were red, blue, yellow, orange and the brand new tropicolor!
The Start
One week before the event, I received a pack through the post that included the official "Color Run" t-shirt, a blue head band, a pair of sun glasses, some easy-peel tattoos as well as my paper badge number. This helped provide all I needed for the upcoming event.
My friend and I arrived at Madeira Drive near Brighton Pier to start the race, but realised quite quickly that many of the participants were already queuing up and getting prepared. So we joined at the tail end of the line and waiting anxiously. The format worked like this.
People were split up into waves of about 150 runners and every wave of entrants would start their run about 4 minutes clear of each other.
The vibe was honestly one of complete joy and happiness as it really seemed to us all like one gigantic party. We finally reached the starting line and waited while the group in front of us were disappearing into the distance.
A few moments later and we were off! I did take my time running as I kept stopping to take loads of photos along the way, lol.
When arriving at every 1 km mark along the track, you would reach these inflatable ballooned arches where volunteers standing by the sides would dowse you in that particular color!
Some people were honestly covered from head to toe in color, others were rolling about on the ground just to be immersed in as much of that color as possible. Total madness but also total fun!
At the halfway point, a steel band was playing music in the background to will you on to the final goal. As we progressed, more and more different powdered colors were thrown onto us from people at the various arches until everybody started blending into everybody else. Very surreal! I had to wrap my phone up in tight clear plastic to avoid it getting completely ruined, lol.
Just Good Old-Fashioned Fun For Everyone
Finally, about 45 minutes later, the finish line! As I crossed, I saw that many people had already gathered at a big sound stage not too far down. On the stage were DJs from Capital FM, a very famous radio station based in London.
They were blasting out tunes at maximum volume and getting the crown really pumped up, intermittently throwing Skittles and goodies into the audience. As more and more waves of people crossed the finishing line, the crowd was gathering at a frantic pace. Such great atmosphere.
Every 15 minutes, they would load up a special type of “cannon gun” which fired a shower of different colors high into the air, creating the now famous “color cloud”. It really was a sight to behold.
People had their own bottles of color which they also took the opportunity to throw into the mix, adding to the messy craziness.
I also noticed an area next to the stage where volunteers under small tents were splashing colors all over their willing participants up close and personal! What I didn’t know was that you could even go to have this done to you before queuing up for the race itself! If only I arrived a little earlier, lol.
People of Color, Unite
All in all, this event is one of the best and most fun experiences I’ve ever had. The atmosphere, the run, the energy, the party afterwards, it all gelled together so beautifully.
No inhibitions, no shyness, just some great memories to take back home with you. The final figure raised that day for the NSPCC was £250,000 which was fantastic to hear.
I loved every minute of it and will definitely make it an annual attendance from now on. If you want to have an absolute blast of a time while simultaneously contributing to a great cause, it doesn’t get much better than this!
这个周末我参加了一年一度在Brighton举行的动力十足，五彩缤纷的彩色跑。活动所筹到的所有捐款将由NSPCC慈善组织用于帮助和防止虐待儿童。
NSPCC慈善组织主要是帮助有需要的孩子，例如被忽视，被虐待甚至被拐卖到其他国家进行性工作的儿童。因此，虽然彩色跑活动本身很有趣，它更能帮助和拯救了许多年轻的生命，非常有意义。
彩色跑的路线是沿着Brighton海边从一头到另一头在往回跑，总共5公里路程。活动不计时，并不是普通的竞赛形式，因为所有年龄段的人都可以参加，有跑步的也有徒步的。整个比赛主要是通过色彩的力量让大家共同分享快乐。每年彩色跑都会采用不同的主题颜色，今年用的是红色，蓝色， 黄色，橙色和全新的热带彩色!
比赛开始
活动前一周我收到了运动员包裹， 里面有一件衬衫，蓝色头带，太阳眼镜，一次性彩色纹身和号码纸等。下图是我全服武装，出发啦！
我和朋友来到Brighton码头附近Madeira, 比赛从这儿开始。我们很快意识到许多参加者已经准备好并排队等候了。因此，我们加入队伍的末端并兴奋地等待指令开始跑步。由于参赛人数众多，主办方用线把人隔成一组一组的，每4分钟一组，以防止一次性冲出起跑线的人太多，受到伤害。
在我们看在这像是一个街头大派对，每个人都充满了喜悦与快乐，气氛非常活跃。我们终于到达了起跑线，看着前面一组人群消失在远处，不一会儿我们也开始跑了！我和朋友一边跑，沿路不时地停下来拍照。
跑者每一公里都将经过一个彩粉区，志愿者会站在这些充气拱形门两边向所有跑者身上泼洒特定颜色的彩粉。有些人从头到脚被撒上厚厚的彩粉，有些人则躺在地上打滚，让尽可能多的颜色染到身上，大家都沉浸在疯狂的快乐中！
当我们跑到一半路程的时候，惊喜地发现有个钢乐队在边上演奏为大家跑到终点打气， 好不鼓舞哦！在经过越来越多的充气拱门以后，大家全身各部分都融入了五彩缤纷的世界。幸好我早做好准备把手机用透明塑料包好，不然肯定会光荣牺牲的，哈哈。
快乐的彩色跑
经过整整45分钟，我和朋友一起冲过终点线！这时候我看到许多人已经聚集在不远的大舞台。在舞台上有来自伦敦著名的广播电台Capital FM的DJ，播放着极限音量，派送Skittles巧克力豆（活动赞助商）和小礼品来吸引大家聚集这个最后最壮观的彩色派对!
每隔15分钟，主持人会加载特殊的彩色炮枪，向空中发射彩蛋， 形成了美丽的彩云，台下大家也一起将手中的彩粉撒向空中，每个人都变成了色彩缤纷的调色板，与亲人朋友一起分享欢乐，场面非常壮观！
我也注意到了舞台旁边有个彩色小帐篷，里面有各种颜色的彩粉桶，这是志愿者为跑者提供近距离撒粉的区域。很多人在彩色跑以前就来这儿全副武装了，早知道我也早些到，呵呵。
彩色的人们团结起来吧
总而言之，这是我经历过最快乐的一次长跑，不但锻炼了身体，整个过程更是乐趣多多，能量十足，其后的彩色派对更是活动的高潮！
这次彩色跑带给我的是满满的美好的回忆。在这一天，我们为NSPCC筹到了25万英镑，这是个非常让人兴奋的消息。我享受彩色跑的每一分钟，这将会是我以后每年出席的盛会，呵呵。如果你想参加一个可以让自己开心同时又有意义的活动，千万不要错过彩色跑哦！