[Editor’s Note: This month’s Community Voices article was written by iRunFar reader and runner, Seth Luxenberg, who worked for the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and has run the Backyard Ultra Abidjan twice.]
When Marius Kouakou of Côte d’Ivoire ran 85 “yards” or laps on the 2025 Extremely Tour du Lac de Monteux yard extremely, he reset his African report — which he beforehand set on the What’s Your Restrict yard extremely in Beauraing, Belgium, in April 2025 — by 29 laps. It was a large step up that earned him the runner-up, or “help” place on the race. On the similar Belgian race, one other Ivoirian, Adele Al Khalil, set the ladies’s African report with 37 laps. Whereas Africa is thought for producing world-class runners in a wide range of disciplines, these Ivoirian stars are among the many first to dive deeply into the yard extremely format, and with nice success. The small West African nation is thought for its warmth and excessive humidity, and operating there may be not for the faint of coronary heart.
Marius Kouakou (left) and Adele Al Khalil (proper) operating on the 2025 What’s Your Restrict yard extremely. All images courtesy of Seth Luxenberg.
The yard extremely format, which is comparatively new on this planet of operating, entails repeating a 4.167-mile (6.70 kilometers) lap each hour. Runners should be prepared to start out their subsequent loop at the beginning of every hour, and the winner is topped after they full another lap after everybody else has stopped operating, whether or not by alternative or as a result of they miss the one-hour cut-off. The race format was began by Gary Cantrell, aka Laz, the race director of the Barkley Marathons, in 2011 in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. In recent times, yard ultras have turn out to be more and more fashionable as a better and fewer intimidating manner for individuals to run extremely distances when in comparison with extra conventional race codecs. It’s additionally a lot simpler to create and host the occasions, as race administrators don’t should mark out an entire extremely course, only a single lap. The convenience of the format makes it accessible to those that don’t dwell in areas with many racing alternatives, and the rising Côte d’Ivoire path group has embraced the racing type.
The emergence of yard ultras in Côte d’Ivoire got here from an opportunity assembly between Frenchman Alain Jolivet and Laz on the 2022 Capital Yard Extremely in Washington, D.C. They mentioned the thought of Alain organizing an occasion in Côte d’Ivoire, the place Alain had been dwelling since 2021. When he returned residence, Alain set to work with Isabelle Diomandé-Konaté, an Ivoirian runner, to prepare the nation’s first yard extremely.
Runners line up within the pen on the 2024 Yard Extremely Abidjan.
The primary Yard Extremely Abidjan was held in 2023 in Banco Nationwide Park, a 34-square-kilometer space of dense tropical forests, a favourite spot for a lot of native path runners. The city tropical forest affords an opportunity to flee the busy metropolis for a quiet run. Palm bushes present shade from the tropical solar, and the world overlooks the Ébrié lagoon. In 2023, over 100 runners from 19 nationalities participated within the yard extremely. Whereas neither Marius or Adele ran that yr — although Marius had supposed to run — the occasion was the beginning of the game within the small West African nation.
Marius Kouakou: A Pupil of the Sport
Marius grew up in Gagnoa, a small metropolis in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa-growing area. He ran monitor in highschool, competing within the 100- and 200-meter occasions. He finally moved to Port-Bouët, a working-class suburb of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s largest metropolis. He labored at a automotive dealership, and with the intention to lower your expenses on transportation, he would run seven kilometers to and from work fairly than take the bus. He felt himself getting quicker and entered a half marathon in 2016 in Abidjan. Whereas he initially wished to run the complete marathon, he couldn’t afford good sneakers, so he opted for the half marathon as a substitute. He says that when he completed in tenth place, he realized he may succeed as a runner. Marius continued to rack up spectacular performances, even with out with the ability to afford good sneakers, and says he completed eighth in Abidjan’s half marathon in 2017 after which received the half marathon in his hometown of Gagnoa in 2019.
Marius’s entrance into the yard extremely racing scene didn’t begin easily. His boss, who was energetic within the Abidjan operating group, paid his registration charge for the 2023 Yard Extremely Abidjan. Nevertheless, Marius confirmed up late and wasn’t allowed to compete. Undeterred, he returned for the second version in 2024. This time, he arrived early and able to compete. He received with 19 laps.
Marius Kouakou heads out on one other lap on the 2024 Yard Extremely Abidjan.
Alain, one of many occasion organizers, instantly noticed Marius’s expertise. Alain, who had expertise competing at occasions like UTMB and Diagonale des Fous, acknowledged Marius as somebody who had by no means educated correctly however had lots of potential, and Alain wished to assist.
Alain started teaching Marius for the 2025 Huge Canine’s Yard Extremely in Tennessee. The occasion would function the person world championships for the yard extremely racing format. By means of Alain, Marius realized about energy coaching, interval coaching, and correct diet. Marius was quickly calling Alain “El Professeur.” Marius had a naturally clean operating type and unbelievable endurance. He would usually full 42-kilometer (26.2 miles) runs in below three hours and had a coaching quantity of 300 kilometers (186 miles) on some weeks. He additionally educated for the specifics of the yard type, corresponding to taking five-minute naps and consuming earlier than, throughout, and after lengthy runs.
Marius’s efficiency improved virtually instantly, and in October 2024, he earned a spot for the 2025 Huge Canine’s Yard Extremely by profitable the Côte d’Ivoire yard nationwide championships with 28 laps.
Marius Kouakou taking in gasoline on his solution to profitable the 2024 Yard Extremely Abidjan.
When evaluating race leads to Abidjan, it’s vital to needless to say the humidity is normally round 70% to 80%, which makes consuming and ingesting sufficient tough. Sustaining a gradual coronary heart fee is very difficult in these circumstances. Some equate coaching in circumstances like Abidjan to coaching at altitude, and as soon as runners go away the high-humidity surroundings, their performances typically enhance dramatically.
Certainly, racing exterior of Côte d’Ivoire, Marius thrived. In April 2025, at his first huge worldwide take a look at, the What’s Your Restrict yard extremely in Belgium, he ran 56 laps, ending second because the “help” and setting a brand new African report.
Though Marius was able to race at Huge’s, the person world championships, he wasn’t in a position to receive a visa to race within the U.S. Undeterred, he pivoted to the Extremely Tour du Lac de Monteux in France as a substitute take a look at in October. Once more, he exceeded his outdated African report by an enormous margin, operating 85 laps to complete second general, behind Christophe Rouat, who set a brand new French yard extremely report with 86 laps. Whereas Marius fell in need of his aim of 100 laps, he doesn’t really feel like the gap is out of the query. After the race, Marius mentioned that his general operating aim is to have the chance to compete with elite athletes, and he’s nicely on his solution to attaining it.
Marius Kouakou operating comfortably on the 2025 Extremely Path Lac du Monteux.
Coming from a comparatively small group of runners in Côte d’Ivoire, Marius’s performances have garnered consideration. His humble type and delight in representing his nation have made him a fan favourite within the Abidjan operating group. After he returned from France, he obtained a reception from dozens of Abidjan-based runners in addition to his household and mates from Port-Bouët.
One of the crucial vocal supporters of Marius was Adele Al Khalil.
Adele Al Khalil: Chasing Private Limits
Africa’s different yard extremely report holder, Adele Al Khalil, additionally hails from Côte d’Ivoire. Alongside Marius, she set the ladies’s African report by operating 37 laps on the What’s Your Restrict yard extremely in Belgium in 2025.
With a background in athletics, Adele’s journey into endurance sports activities is deeply rooted in self-discipline, adaptability, and a love of problem. From a younger age, she was drawn to motion in all its kinds, exploring gymnastics, snowboarding, horseback driving, and basketball throughout her highschool years. Every self-discipline sharpened her bodily consciousness and psychological resilience, laying the muse for a lifelong pursuit of efficiency.
At college, whereas incomes a bachelor’s diploma in Enterprise and a grasp’s diploma in Administration, she joined the monitor group and found the joys of velocity, the intoxicating rhythm of the breath, the burn within the legs, and the satisfaction of crossing a end line quicker than earlier than. Monitor taught her construction, precision, and the artwork of pacing, classes that might quietly form her future as an endurance athlete.
Marius Kouakou (left) and Adele Al Khalil (second from proper) on the 2025 What’s Your Restrict yard extremely.
However the love of path and long-distance operating got here later, virtually unexpectedly. What started as a solution to unwind from the pressures of each day life advanced into one thing a lot deeper. The paths woke up a special sort of pleasure — one not sure by instances or laps, however by freedom, connection, and discovery. Lengthy-distance operating grew to become meditative journeys via nature, a dialogue between effort and serenity, wrestle and surprise. In recent times, Adele has turn out to be a fixture at operating occasions in Côte d’Ivoire, typically ending as the highest feminine and among the many high general runners.
At her first try on the yard extremely race format, the 2024 Yard Extremely Abidjan, she accomplished 16 loops and knew she had the potential for extra. She competed on the Côte d’Ivoire nationwide championships in 2024 and ran 25 laps. In April 2025, alongside Marius, she traveled to Belgium for the What’s Your Restrict occasion, able to push her limits. She succeeded in doing so, finishing 37 loops and setting a brand new African yard extremely report for girls.
Adele has mentioned that she loves the yard format, and from the race type the place there isn’t any end line, she has realized that “the additional you go, the extra you understand what you might be able to, which is way past what you first imagined.”
Way forward for Yard Ultras in Côte d’Ivoire
The 2023 Yard Extremely Abidjan proved to be a convincing success, and the 2024 and 2025 occasions proved equally as fashionable, with the utmost variety of laps run rising every year, from 16 in 2023 to 31 in 2025. The occasion additionally maintains a charitable element with the intention to give again to the area people. In 2023, runners accomplished a complete of 464 loops, so occasion organizers planted 464 bushes. For the 2024 occasion, runners accomplished a complete of 692 loops, so organizers donated 692 units of faculty provides. In 2025, runners accomplished 900 loops, in order that they distributed 900 books to Ivoirian libraries.
Marius Kouakou celebrates one other lap on the 2025 Extremely Path Lac du Monteux.
One of many issues that makes operating in Côte d’Ivoire so distinctive is the range of members. The nation has a booming economic system, serves as a hub for a lot of companies working in Francophone West Africa, and hosts the African Improvement Financial institution. This all attracts a big expatriate group, who typically make up nearly all of members at endurance occasions. Côte d’Ivoire can be the world’s main producer of cocoa and a significant producer of cashews, palm oil, plantains, and different crops. The paths via and between these agricultural areas present a community of routes for runners to make use of.
Beneath the management of Alain, the Yard Extremely Abidjan appears to be a dependable fixture in Côte d’Ivoire path operating, offering a launch pad for runners like Marius and Adele to compete towards a number of the greatest on this planet.
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