Saturday is going to be a colourful day in Samoa. 

Those who are attending the Miss Samoa Colour Run, which is organised by the current beauty queen herself, Ariana Taufao, and the Samoa Tourism Authority along with several sponsors, will be surprised with a colourful run through the streets of Apia. 

The event, that is supposed kick off at the Authority’s area is the first of its kind and without a doubt a very special occasion to donate money to Sisters of the Poor, Mapuifagalele – Home for the Elderly.

“This type of event is celebrated all over the world. It is really popular in the United States, New Zealand and Australia. With support of the Samoa Tourism Authority, we’re proud to bring it here to Samoa”, said Miss Samoa at the Authority’s Fale Samoa.

The fundraiser, which is inspired by spiritual festivities like the popular Holi Festival of colours in India does indeed literally add some colours to the usual charity event.

“It will be a five kilometre run which will have its starting and finishing point here at Samoa Cultural Village. Every kilometre, we will offer ‘colour stations’ at which volunteers will be throwing colour powders at the run’s participants”.

Preceded by a special Zumba workout starting at 7 am to warm up the runners, which also include this year’s participants in the Miss Samoa Pageant, the colourful race does also encourage the event’s visitors to take action and throw some colours.

“It’s all about getting the whole community involved. Our message is about team effort and getting together to support the people in our community in whatever aspect this is. People can still register until the day of the run by donating 35 Tala. This ‘Runner’s Pack’ is not just limited to the opportunity to actually take part in the race. You also get a white t-shirt, a bottle of water, a wristband and of course the colour powder, which is completely safe as it is based on corn starch”.

While a 5k run certainly drains the runners’ strength, the event’s hosts will of course provide sustenance at the event for both, the participants and the visitors of the colour run. 

“We will have three to four food stalls available, provided by local business owners and a free fruit stand as well”, Miss Samoa told.

As the current beauty queen’s older sister and coordinator Leilani Taufao was able to point out, the event will be completely free for children of the age of ten and under to also encourage bigger families to celebrate a healthy lifestyle while helping out those who are in need.

The idea for the event was born during a collaboration between Miss Samoa and Mapuifagalele itself.

“I’ve been involved with a few N.G.O.’s during the year and one of them in which I volunteered a few times was Mapuifagalele. I was able to go in and get to know the people and that’s really where [the idea for the run] came from”.

While there have been numerous events like this before in Samoa, the obvious difference of “adding a little colour” was something Miss Samoa did not come up with completely on her own. 

“It was a coordination between me and the event’s organisers including the Tourism Authority’s events team. What we’re also aiming at is to maybe create an annual event out of this, but it really is up to the appropriate people if it will be held again or as an actual colour run in the future”, Miss Samoa explained, adding that for the run, an expected number of 200 to 300 visitors would be a really good outcome. The Miss Samoa Colour Run will start this coming Saturday, 3rd of September at 7am at the Samoa Cultural Village in Apia and is open to everyone.