Gobi March 2003, Dunhuang, China
Here is Irish runner Eoin O'Cearbhaill's diary of the Gobi March, from departure
'We crossed over sand dunes, miles of gorse type bushes with no path and a couple of streams. By 1pm it was 38 degrees in the sun. I passed through the last check point at 12.50 and found myself in second place… The last three kilometres involved some near vertical climbing, wading waist deep in a stream and then, nearly having an argument with a local wild camel. Let me pass!! He wouldn’t budge from the trail but I just kept coming and I think he got the impression I meant business. He moved out of the way at any rate.'
4 September 9, 2003
Its 10.44 in the morning. I’m sitting in the departure lounge of Dublin Airport waiting for my flight to Frankfurt and then on to Beijing and Dunhuang in North West China. I’m pretty relaxed and looking forward to the event. ‘¦I've had my goodbyes and all the good lucks, tongue in cheek, so it’s time to get on with it!
MORE...
5th September 9, 2003
Well, I made it but only just. No sleep and two days of travelling later and I’m in the hotel in Dunhuang where we spend a night before bussing it to the campsite at Camp Dynasty, a 2011 year old fort dating from the Han Dynasty. I’m really tired and a little daunted as my roommate for the night does a marathon in 2 hours 24minutes.
6th September 9, 2003
So my room mate got up at 6.30am and went for an hour's run!!! I slept in until 7am, had breaky and then got my gear checked out, which was fine. We got on the bus at 2pm after some fun and games with the hotel over a towel or two and made it to camp at about 6pm. Now I’m nervous!
7th September 9, 2003
It’s 6.30 am and the race gets under way at 9 am, an hour later than planned because the mayor of Dunhuang wanted to start the race. A couple of hundred locals have turned up to see us on our way.
The first hour of the stage was all right, with fresh legs and all that. The race was a 27 mile ‘warm-up’! over a number of different terrains and crossing a number of streams. I felt good so I kept at a steady pace, following a guy called Rob who has completed upwards of 90 ultra marathons. I reckoned he knew what he was doing so I let him make the decisions about when to run, not run, etc. for a few miles. We crossed over sand dunes, miles of gorse type bushes with no path and a couple of streams.
By 1pm it was 38 degrees in the sun. I passed through the last check point at 12.50 and found myself in second place… Kevin, my roommate, was way out ahead, followed by me!! I couldn’t believe it. Apparently the two other guys ahead of me had gotten lost at a previous point. I didn’t realise this at the time so I kept at my own pace. Otto, a guy I had been running with for a couple of hours started cramping so I left him behind and headed on. The last three kilometres involved some near vertical climbing, wading waist deep in a stream and then, nearly having an argument with a local wild camel. Let me pass!! He wouldn’t budge from the trail but I just kept coming and I think he got the impression I meant business. He moved out of the way at any rate.
Kevin won the first stage in 4 hours 18 minutes, Charley, a very experienced adventure racer, finished second, followed by Rob, Ed and myself, in 5th place in 5hrs and 3 minutes. Otto finished in 6th. There followed a 4 hour wait for enough people to fill the bus so that we could get on with the one and only bus ride to the next camp. It was either the bus or having the 50 miler on day 2.
Mark and Nick were amazing (Mark Pollock is a blind runner and Nick Wolfe is his guide, they are from Ireland). They came in with a time of 10hrs 23 mins, very tired but still going. Mark had crossed, with the aid of Nick, some of the roughest terrain I have ever run on. Including a leap of faith across one of the streams. A fellow competitor stood on the other side, gave Mark’s walking stick a tug. He extended it far enough to clear the dyke and based on this info Mark took one step back and jumped, pack and all. Truly outstanding. They’re both champions no matter their ranking.
visit the website here
Back to Main News
There are no comments yet! Be the first to leave one!
