I assumed Luke was winding me up but it turns out that he was sort of right. It did have a problem β particularly in when there were 17 murders. Which, at the time, meant it had the highest murder rate in the world. Famously, the BBC even ran a β much derided locally β report on it. Especially after having run in places like Caracas Venezuela β at or near the top of most lists of dangerous cities these days β and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea.
It helped that I had good company. Jeff now runs 5km in every country he visits and, not entirely unexpectedly, we had a lot to talk about β including the best way to run 5km in the Vatican. Which must make them one of the largest hashes in the world. We started at Ross University Veterinary School where, after a few photos, we lined up behind Jeff on his bike.
Once in Basseterre, we turned left at the first ever traffic lights on the island β which had only had been in place since Christmas β. Our route took us through Piccadilly Circus β which had more clock towers but fewer tourists and Eros statues than its London namesake β.
Independence Square is the administrative centre of Basseterre and was once the site of the St Kitts slave market. Apparently there are still tunnels under the surrounding road which were used to move slaves from their holding pens to the market.
From there we went back to the coast before turning inland for the dreaded 8 th kilometre. And partly because it coincided with a 1 kilometre long hill. I suspect this was more because they were wondering what was going on rather than because they felt I needed protection. From the top of Kilometre 8 Hill as its certainly not known locally , we ran downhill to Frigate Bay which is the main tourist area and home to a couple of fine beaches. All that remains is for me to thank my fellow runners for both their company and their generous donations to Cancer Research.
