Even by the London Marathon’s standards, they will make a unusually exotic team. Six Masai warriors are leaving their remote village in Tanzania to run in traditional dress to fund the provision of clean water.

The young warriors, who are acting in response to a drought that is killing the sick and children in the Eluai village, have been given the unique privilege of running without numbers so that they can maintain their cultural integrity.

They will run wearing shoes made from car tyres, carrying their sticks and shields, and chant Masai songs as they go around the 26-mile course on April 13.

Isaya, one of the runners, said in a blog supporting their cause: “Our elders told us that we can do it because we have been runing all over for killing a lion and herding cattle. We can help them by getting them clean water so right now all of us we are training very hard.”

“We are training three days a week and we run for about 20km. My younger brother, Nguvu, he has a very good speed and i run after him but he doesn’t listen to me! Another guy called Taiko, we run after him but no one catches him!

“On another day we ran again and we were acting that we are going to kill a lion so everyone had to run faster to catch a lion soon as posible and that day we all had a good training and we won together!”

The Masai runners have been warned that in London they will also have to deal carefully with a strange and difficult species: the capital’s workers. “You may be surprised by the number of people that there are as they all seem to be rushing around everywhere,” reads a travel guide written by Greenforce, a British charity working with the village. “Even though some may look like they have a frown on their face, they are friendly people — many of them just work in offices, jobs they don’t enjoy, and so they do not smile as much as they should.”

The Masai men — who are considered warriors once they have tracked and run down a male lion before killing it — have been given the guide to warn them of the many dangers and peculiar traditions of British life.

The effect on alcohol on Britons is also described. “Many people drink alcohol in England. They do so at bars, at homes, at homes or at clubs — the English equivalent to a Masai party. When people drink they [seem] sillier or different. I am sure you have seen it with the Greenforce volunteers.”

Dave Bedford, race director for the Flora London Marathon said: “We are delighted to be able to offer our assistance to these Masai runners to raise money for their village. Water is something we all take for granted, we are 100 per cent behind this.”

Tribal lore

— Oral history records that the Masai originated from the lower Nile valley in northwest Kenya. They began migrating south around the 15th century and are now based in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania

— Their population is estimated at between 500,000 and 1,000,000

— Historically, a Masai warrior would prove himself a man by tracking, running down and killing a lion using only a spear

— Their traditional diet consisted of meat, milk and cattle blood. Their staple diet now is milk and maize

— Their shoes are made from old tyres

Source: Times database

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