SANKARA The Upright Man Pierre-Christophe Gam
Three weeks later he attempted his first Channel swim, and achieved an incredible twelve hours in his first experience of swimming in open water, before his inexperience and relative lack of training led to an end of that try. Vilas Silverton of the Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team recently completed a 5,474km cycle ride across Australia – as part of the Indian Pacific Wheel Race. Ushika had such belief that he would complete the distance that problems were just temporary setbacks and not insurmountable obstacles. After a few miles in this sorry state I bumped into my friend Karteek (an experienced multi-day runner and English Channel swimmer) who was also running the race. Many people were passing me – even some old, non-runners. I almost forgot to mention the real miracle of the day; although just about every part of my body screamed with pain at some point, my old hip injury remained completely silent.
All the time, you are just dealing with all manner of thoughts and feelings that are trying to pierce your concentration, and convince you to ease back or take a wee break. She is slightly slower than her 100mile split of last year (15h.58min) but this is all part of her plan to eventually achieve a better overall 24hour distance. It is a long haul, when your body is often by habit trying to convince you, you should be asleep. Competent 24 hour runners often talk of the long hours, usually mainly in darkness, between 12 hours and reaching the 100mile point. The 12 hour leader board showed Ross with 122.4km (76.06mls) Ankers, 120.4 km (74.8mls), with Wykes in third 114.8km (71.33ml) just a lap ahead of Heffron 114.4km (71.08 mls).
However, after completing both races my body was depleted and was horrendously stiff. An experienced multi-day and 3100-mile runner, Ushika, invited me to join him on a 7-mile run. My main obstacle to finishing the race was not my physical suffering or even the energy crash. It was this difference that meant that he would finish the race while I would give up.
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The route crossed the wide uninhabited plains of Western Australia before passing through the cities of Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. Vilas from Bristol, England started in Perth on 17 March and finished in Sydney nearly four weeks later. Like this, eventually we covered 7 miles and for periods I was jogging fairly comfortably, albeit slowly.
As the party was on Friday afternoon I did not feel like going anywhere. That day I was hundred percent sure that this race was nothing to do with me, but was 99% God’s grace and 1% help from all my dear friends and family who coached, massaged, advised and encouraged me and who fixed my bike! After Neil almost crashed into me on the bike during the Portobello Sprint Triathlon, because I could not see him from my pony tail, I knew the biggest and only sacrifice had to be done – I had to cut my long hair for safety reasons. I left behind my dear room-mate Julia from Oxford, who was very patiently sharing a room with me, my bike, and all the race gear which was lying just about everywhere.
Just before the finish, Linda gave me the Harmony Torch (see – Ed.) it was great to run with the torch through all the crowd, it was so beautiful. So I started smiling even more, I started chatting with everybody. I was just copying others – they all had ice cold sponges on their neck, chest, shoulders – so I soon looked like a body builder with all the sponges under my jersey. It was just great to have all these people running there on the running loop. I was so happy to see the others who were struggling on the run – some of them were already finishing.
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LAter on Sean in the bike shop told me that the cable probably got stuck. I would need to pedal for five or six more hours in 40 degrees heat without water. My hair, glasses, jersey, bike, everything was sticky. I poured so called water on my head – it was an energy drink.
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My initial concerns about having lots of time to fill during the 24 hours failed to materialise as we soon got into a rhythm of preparing food, tracking pace, monitoring distance, supporting toilet breaks and satisfying John’s every whim. He also relied heavily on the experience of athletes like Eoin Keith and endurance record holding cyclist Paul O’Donoghue to help with diet plan and just as importantly, the mental preparation. There were times when – even though Karteek was always swimming forwards and towards France due to the tide and the curvature of the coastline, he was actually moving further away from the shore. Ian Corliss interviews William Sichel from Orkney, Scotland, who in 2014 became the oldest person at 60 to successfully complete the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, the world’s longest certified foot race. In perspective, only 4 of GB’s outstanding ultra runners of recent years, Emily Gelder, Hilary Walker, Eleanor Robinson and Lizzy Hawker have run further in 24 hours. Ross and Wykes distances are indeed exceptional.
His Life section provides the most critical and fraternal assessment of the 1980s radical experiment within the broader history of the country, the region and continent. It is a story of vision, integrity, faith, patriotism, treachery, betrayal and one man’s fight to free the black race from oppression and his indefatigable love for his country and continent. The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. He believed radical change would only come when people were convinced and active, not passive and conquered. Most controversially was his response to a teachers strike, when he sacked thousands of teachers, replacing them with an army of citizens teachers who were often completely unqualified.
I was pacing myself on 14 miles per hour on the bike, so finally I finished the bike just before the cut off time in 10 hours 24 minutes. Total swim distance is 2.4 miles followed with bike ride of 112 miles and finished with a 26.2 mile marathon run. With 2 hours to go Ross is just short of 133 miles (214 km 535 laps) 5 laps short of her 2013 distance, and a new PB beckons. I was fortunate that the group contained some experienced ultra-runners who had already covered this kind of distance (and much longer) many times. My body was fine but I started feeling dizzy from heat and lack of water. The disaster struck in the second lap – there was no water at the aid stations – my mind was in a state of complete panic.
- Was it too early to hope for a finish position like that?
- On 25th August I completed the Self Transcendence Marathon.
- Shyamala has worked out he will probably be less than a lap short of the 100 mile mark, so why don’t we let him keep going so he has at least recorded a 100mile time.
- My goal was to try and achieve the GB team qualifying distance for the World 24 hr champs next year 210 km (131 miles), but just didn’t expect I could run over 140 miles.”
- I changed slowly , realising that my legs and arms were completely sunburnt.
- The IMF also unusually allowed capital controls to be brought in to help prevent money rushing out of the country.
Cycle Ride across Australia – Vilas Silverton
He saw the emancipation of women as vital to breaking the hold of the feudal system on the country. Similar gains were made in health, with the immunisation of millions of children, and education in a country which had had over 90% illiteracy. In fact the adoption of local clothes and local foods was central to Sankara’s economic strategy to break the country from the domination of the West.
- Ross, and the other runners were no doubt having similar feelings, but relentlessly she, Wykes and Heffron were circling the track, edging closer to that 100mile mark.
- It is a story of vision, integrity, faith, patriotism, treachery, betrayal and one man’s fight to free the black race from oppression and his indefatigable love for his country and continent.
- I left behind my dear room-mate Julia from Oxford, who was very patiently sharing a room with me, my bike, and all the race gear which was lying just about everywhere.
- Karen (GB 24 hour international Karen Hathaway) was just outstanding and I was so grateful for all her experience”
- In 1981, he was appointed to the military government in Upper Volta, but his outspoken support for the liberation of ordinary people in his country and outside eventually led to his arrest.
Thomas Sankara descended upon Upper Volta in 1983 as a prodigal son, armed with a bold vision to transform what was at the time the world’s second poorest country into Burkina Faso—“the Land of Upright Men”. Not only do people transcend their limitations but everyone involved works together and created an atmosphere of enthusiasm, support and respect. I got to see the runners like Tarit Stott, digging deep down to find the power to get back on the track after injury threatened muscles or stomach upsets had taken them into the warmth of the medical room. It took me about 20mins each hour to update the score board so that the runners could see how far they had gone. Then the helpers and track side refreshment team need to offer not only food and drink but smiles and cheers.
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Instead of being one of the faster runners on the course I was now one of the slowest. I was laughing because the idea of running 47 miles when I was already struggling in the first few miles felt crazy. The idea kept gnawing away at me until I felt that I should, in Sri Chinmoy’s words, “dare to try” – for the experience if nothing else! However, I met a few other people who also wanted to run this race and somehow I got caught up in the inspiration. After running a marathon in one of my best times, I was talking to an ultra-running friend.
For those unfamiliar with a 24hour race, the idea is to cover a fixed loop that has been accurately measured, in this case a 400 metre track, and see how many laps you can complete in the 24 hours. He duly broke, or set, completely new marks for all the recognized ultra distances from 30 miles up to 24 hours, with the exception of 100 miles, which he fell some 5 miles short of. But, after an eventful few weeks, Vilas Sankra Casino was able to complete the full distance finishing in Sydney. I’ll admit that miles 15 to 20 were tough, but once I knew I only had two laps to go it was all joy.
When he was told that he had done it twice, he asked Karteek to swim the Channel two more times. At point afterwards, Sri Chinmoy called and asked Karteek how many times he had swum the Channel. What followed was one of his most difficult races, in windy conditions and with the development of sea sickness, which took him over fifteen hours to complete! Thus inspired, he wondered if he could repeat his earlier crossing and decided to give it another go in 2000.
In this event it involved circling the 400metre track, with each lap of every runner being meticulously recorded. The whole goal of a 24 hour race is to see how much distance you can cover in a 24 hour time span. I feel sure we will see him again in 2015 though, health and fitness permitting. He then says a few choice words of encouragement to the “younger runners“ and heaps praise on Shankara and her organizing crew. At the post race prize giving, after race winner Fionna Ross, Geoff probably receives the loudest cheers and applause of anybody, and asks to say a few words.