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Lily Canter

Wherever I travel, I love to immerse myself in a new place on foot. It is the best way to notice the detail, experience the sights, smells and sounds first hand, and get a real sense of everyday life there.
So when I heard about a run-cation on Rapa Nui – also known as Easter Island – I knew this was just the trip for me.
Organised by event company Rat Race, it is a five-day tour of the small, remote Pacific island famous for its monolithic stone humanoid monuments that brings together landscape, heritage and spiritual well-being.
On the fourth day, there is a 50km (31-mile) run/hike, which is structured like a race but is not officially timed.
The package includes accommodation, meals and all excursions, and it is possible to extend your stay on either side of the event dates.


A global pack gathers on a remote island
Built with inclusivity at its heart, the itinerary is designed to accommodate runners, joggers and hikers alike.
I was part of a group of 39 travellers from all over the world, including the United States, Britain, Australia and the Netherlands, staying together at Hotel Hotu Matua in Hanga Roa, the island’s only town. Some, like me, were travelling solo, while others came with friends or partners.
Each day had a fixed itinerary involving visiting different parts of the island, led by local Rapa Nui guides who were deeply invested in sharing the rich culture of their homeland.
Before my trip, I knew little about the island, other than it was a Chilean territory, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
I had seen photos of the row of 15 stone heads at Ahu Tongariki but did not realise there were as many as 1,000 of these figures – moai – dotted around the 164 sq km (63 square mile) island.
Over the first few days, we were taken on a mix of hikes and runs between culturally significant sites, covering no more than 20km over six hours. There were plenty of breaks along the way, and injured participants could catch a minibus to many of the locations.


Through these guided tours, we learned a patchwork of history about the original Polynesian settlers and the moai statues, which were erected to honour deceased ancestors.
Most were carved from compressed volcanic ash called tuff, quarried at Rano Raraku on the east of the island, while their red cylindrical topknots, or pukao, were made from red scoria, a porous volcanic rock quarried at Puna Pau, on the other side of the island.
We also discovered that much of Rapa Nui’s history remains shrouded in mystery, and each day we were left with more questions than answers. Why were so many moai constructed given the island’s relatively small population? Why did production suddenly stop? What happened to the moai’s eyes? Why were there so few female moai?
Exploring a parallel universe

These secrets are what give the island its mesmerising appeal. During my flight from Madrid to the Chilean capital Santiago, the man next to me asked if I was visiting Chile. I explained it was just my changeover point as I was making my way to Easter Island.
“Wow! You will have such an amazing time. It is my favourite place in the world. It’s such a spiritual island. You really feel among the gods,” was his impassioned reply.
A few days later, when Rapa Nui guide Natalie Hotu asked me about my impression of the island, I found it difficult to put it into words. It was not just the moai that had beguiled me. The unique landscape strewn with volcanic craters and extinct cones bursting randomly out of the ground made everything seem a little off-kilter.
Then there were the domesticated dogs who were allowed – encouraged even – to roam free. One of them accompanied me on a 15km hike and waited outside our hotel to greet me the following morning.

Island time also meant that nothing much happened – or opened – before 10am, and the relaxed atmosphere continued into the market in Hanga Roa, where not a single seller hassled me as I browsed souvenirs.
It was like stepping into a parallel universe where stress, deadlines, rules and uniformity don’t exist. When I summed it up to Natalie, the only word that seemed to describe what I was feeling was “magical”.
This came into even sharper focus on the day of the 50km run/hike when we circumnavigated the island and threaded together many of the places we had visited in the previous days.
The carefully curated course took us past the quarry where the moai were carved, along the routes they were transported to the sea, past the separate quarry where their topknots were made, and up to the island’s highest summit, where the volcanic craters that made the land so fertile stretched out before us.

Navigating solo with a glitch in the system
For the 50km event – the only one for which we travelled alone, following a GPX file – we set off at 8am on a humid, overcast morning. Along the route were three aid stations to refill water bottles and grab snacks, and with no cut-off times, everyone could move at their own pace.
I was using the event as a training run ahead of a 100-mile race four weeks later, so I set off at a decent pace, while others walked the entire route.
For the most part, navigation was straightforward as we followed a beautiful stretch of coastal road before turning inland to follow lush green trails dotted with cows and horses.

It was a runnable course, dry underfoot, and even when we dropped back onto the roads, they were absolutely deserted. With a population of just 8,000 and only one town, Rapa Nui is perfect for road and trail runners alike. The roads are peaceful, and the trails are unspoilt: other tourists on the island are bused from site to site, so you can run or walk for hours without seeing a single soul.
There was so much to see and absorb that I was blissfully happy spending the day running solo, about a kilometre behind the front group of four. The only problem I had was when navigation went awry as I was climbing the main summit about halfway around. The path had completely disappeared, and so had my GPX mapping.
Just as panic was setting in, I spotted the quartet ahead of me and headed in their direction. A few kilometres later, as I reached what I thought was the summit and saw the group running downhill, I tried to follow their path. But once more, my GPX sent me back and forth, before suddenly insisting I turn left.
Little did I know I had missed 400 metres (1,300 feet) of the course – and the real summit – and had moved to the front of the pack.
A couple of hours later, after a gleeful run downhill followed by a duller slog along the road, I crossed the finish line first in a little over six hours. Since it wasn’t a race – just an event – my unwitting short cut thankfully didn’t matter. We were there to experience the majesty of the island, not to compete against one another.
The final hikers arrived almost seven hours later with beaming smiles.

Crowning our final day was a sunrise visit to Ahu Tongariki, the site of the 15 moai I had seen before in many photographs. Despite having seen hundreds of moai by this point, it was still the highlight of the week and the perfect end to a spellbinding trip.
For more information on the race, visit ratrace.com/easter-island.
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Writer Lily Canter runs past 15 moai statues at Ahu Tongariki, the most famous point on Easter Island, or  Rapa Nui, during her five-day tour organised by Rat Race. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

A group of 39 travellers from all over the world, including America, Britain, Australia and the Netherlands, came together to see Easter Island’s wonders on foot. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

Rapa Nui is famous for its hundreds of colossal carved stone figures known as moai, which dot the 164 sq km island. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

With much of Rapa Nui’s history shrouded in mystery, visitors were often left with more questions than answers, but for the writer, the island’s secrets are part of its appeal. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

Domesticated dogs are encouraged to roam free on Rapa Nui, and one escorted the writer on a 15km hike and waited outside the hotel to greet her the next morning. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

For the writer, the run-cation was “magical”, like stepping into a parallel universe where stress, deadlines, rules and uniformity don’t exist. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

Moai were not the only ever-watchful eyes on the island, which is also home to cows and horses. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

The writer poses next to a moai with her finisher’s medal. Photo: Leo Francis/Rat Race

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Trail Running

A five-day running and hiking tour of Rapa Nui left this writer in awe of the Pacific island’s landscape and spirituality, and slightly lost


A five-day running and hiking tour of Rapa Nui left this writer in awe of the Pacific island’s landscape and spirituality, and slightly lost.


Why a 50km ultra-marathon on ‘magical’ 5-day Easter Island holiday is a race like no other

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A five-day running and hiking tour of Rapa Nui left this writer in awe of the Pacific island’s landscape and spirituality, and slightly lost

A global pack gathers on a remote island

A five-day running and hiking tour of Rapa Nui left this writer in awe of the Pacific island’s landscape and spirituality, and slightly lost