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【中国面孔】超级马拉松运动员Kevin Lin的长跑人生
【China Face】Elixir of life

[ 2013-07-23 09:21] 来源:中国日报网     字号 [] [] []  
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【中国面孔】超级马拉松运动员Kevin Lin的长跑人生
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An ultramarathon runner has made raising public awareness of the water crisis his mission. He shares his motivation with Wu Ni in Shanghai.

For Kevin Lin, a renowned ultramarathon runner from Taiwan, running for thousands of kilometers in extreme harsh climates is not only to challenge his limits, but for a higher purpose - to raise public awareness of water scarcity on this planet.

Since June 24, the 37-year-old athlete, together with his Canadian running partner Ray Zahab, set off from Mongolia for a nearly 3,200-km-long extreme adventure run across the perilous Gobi Desert. As planned, the two ultra runners will reach Guazhou county, Gansu province in northwestern China at the end of July.

Lin says he found much fun in running when he was a little boy - he would always outpace his parents when they took him for a promenade on hills near his home in Taipei.

"The longer and faster I ran, the more interested I felt," he says.

But he had never expected this early hobby to lead him to a hazardous sport - the ultramarathon that involves running longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 km, normally in harsh environments.

After graduating from a physical education institute, Lin first tested his abilities in the 100-km race in Taipei in 1998. He broke records for three consecutive years, which was "totally out of his expectation".

In a 24-hour race in 2000, a British runner told Lin that he should not miss an ultramarathon in Morocco, which is seen as a pilgrimage for all professional runners of the world.

"At that time I lacked confidence, thinking that marathon was never the forte of Asian races. But the words planted a seed in my heart," he says.

He finally joined the race two years later. During the seven-day race, Lin had to bear his 7-kg backpack that carried food, clothes and tent, depend on a compass and replenish 1.5 liter of water every 10 km. He finished the 240-km journey, mostly in desert.

He still maintained the best result that has ever been achieved by an Asian athlete in this race. He later ventured into adventures in the Sahara desert, the Arctic snowfield and Amazon rainforest over the past decade.

"Many people asked me which one was more difficult," he says. "The truth is, each had its own difficulties."

"The Amazon rainforest was suffocating. With a temperature of 38 C and the humidity as high as 99 percent, the clothes were never dry. It felt like running in a sauna room and very exhausting," he recalls.

And the animals and insects in the rainforest posed deadly threats, he says, showing the scar left by a bee sting on his head in the Amazon jungle in 2004.

It was in this race that he got to know Ray Zahab, who thinks Lin is "reliable and strong".

"Kevin is an amazing athlete and also a good friend. It is so exciting that we could run every step together," Zahab says.

Packing for an ultramarathon requires skill. "Everything should be as light as possible. And I must be fully aware of the place where each item was stored so that I can get it from the package in five seconds," he says.

The skill is especially vital in the 600-km-long race across the Arctic in 2008, when the luggage he carried weighed 40 kg. "The speed of any movement in the snowfield was about three to four times slower than in ordinary environment, so you cannot waste any time in finding things."

But it was the Sahara desert that ultimately captured Lin's heart. In 2007, Lin together with Ray Zahab and US runner Charlie Engle accomplished the 111-day, 7,500-km race across the world's largest and arguably most hostile stretch of barren land.

His ability to push physical limits impressed many. Jeff Peterson, the team's doctor, says Lin was always energetic. "When we finished 6,000 km, Lin says they could speed up and ran 100 km a day. They did it and I was so amazed."

The runners had run in temperatures as high as 50 C, under the risks of crossing war-torn regions and even ran for 36 hours without sleep. The most painful experience for Lin was he could not have showers for many days. "I only took four baths during the 111 days," he says.

Lin says his experiences made him decide to dedicate his future adventures to raising awareness and funds to tackle the water crisis in the world.

"It was in 2006 when we were crossing the desert in Niger I saw a little boy sitting in the vast desert, alone. His parents, who were local tribal herds people, traveled 300-km away to fetch water. The boy, 7, without a tent, had to spend three days in the desert. He only had a small piece of mutton and some water. If anything were to happen to his parents on their way back, the boy would die.

"Why not move to regions with wells? You may ask," he says, "because they were afraid of being bitten by mosquitoes and catching malaria."

"I was deeply disturbed and couldn't help feeling for the boy," he says. His following races, like the 150-day Silk Road Adventure in 2010, were all focused on raising awareness of the water crisis.

Lin says he did not receive any special training for the races, adding that experiences and techniques matter more than a young age because "young athletes who are not spiritually mature enough can not tolerate the torture of loneliness and pain in the long journey."

As for him, the way he gets rid of loneliness is listening to music on his MP3 player and meditating, which help him drive away the boredom of the race.

The adventures are full of unpredictable risks, but Lin holds that "it is not playing with life, it shows a respect for life".

By Wu Ni ( China Daily)

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超级马拉松赛跑者Kevin Lin将提高公众水危机意识作为他的使命。他在上海向中国日报记者分享了这一经验。

对于一个来自台湾的著名超级马拉松运动员Kevin Lin来说,在极端气候条件下跑几千公里不仅是挑战他的极限,更是为了一个更远大的目标——让公众意识到地球上的水短缺。

6月24日以来,这位37岁的运动员和他加拿大的跑步伙伴Ray Zahan一起从蒙古出发,进行了近3200公里的极端冒险旅程,穿越危险的戈壁沙漠。按计划,他们将会在七月底到达中国西北甘肃省的瓜州县。

林说当他还是个孩子的时候他就在跑步中发现很多乐趣,当他的父母带他在台北家附近的山上散步的时候,他总是走在前面。

“跑得越长越快。我会感受到更多的快乐。”他说。

但他从未想过小时候的梦想会让他涉及一个危险的运动——超级马拉松跑步通常是在严酷的环境下进行,而且比传统的马拉松(42.195公里)还要长。

在他从体育教育研究所毕业后,林在1998年台北的100米比赛中第一次测试了他的能力,他连续3年打破记录,这个“完全出乎他的意料”。

在2000年24小时的比赛中,一位英国运动员告诉林他不应该错过摩洛哥的超长马拉松比赛,摩洛哥被视为全世界所有专业跑步者的朝圣之地。

“那时我缺乏信心,认为马拉松从来不是亚洲人所擅长的,但是这个词在我心里埋下了种子。”他说。

他两年后终于参加了这项比赛。在7天的跑步中,林不得不忍受那7公斤的背包,那里带着他所需的食物,衣服,帐篷,行程依赖于指南针,他每10公里就需要补充1.5升的水。他完成了240公里的旅程,而大部分都是在沙漠中度过的。

在这场比赛中他获得了亚洲运动员从未获得的最好的成绩。在过去的10年里他冒险进入撒哈拉沙漠,北极积雪山,和亚马逊雨林。

“很多人问我其中哪段旅程是最困难的。”他说,“事实上,每段旅程都有每段旅程的困难。”

“亚马逊森林是令人窒息的,当温度达到38摄氏度时,湿度高达99%,衣服从来没有干过。感觉就像在一个桑拿房里,总是让我感觉很疲惫。”他回忆道。

在雨林里动物和昆虫对人都有着致命的危险,他边说边展示给我们他在2004年亚马逊丛林被蜜蜂蛰到头上的伤疤。

在这场比赛中他认识了Ray Zahab,Ray Zahab认为林是“可靠的和强大的”。

“Kevin是一个了不起的运动员,也是一个好朋友,我们可以一起跑每一步是多么令人兴奋。”Zahab说。

包装技术是超长马拉松所必需的技能。“一切都越轻越好。我必须十分清楚什么东西在哪里,那样的话我就可以在5秒钟之内从我的包裹里拿到我所需要的东西。”他说。

在2008年穿越北极圈的600公里旅程中,他的包裹重达40公斤,那时这项技能是十分重要的。“在雪山,任何运动的速度都比在普通环境下慢三到四倍,因此你不能浪费任何时间在找东西上。

这是在撒哈拉沙漠的时候,林学到的技能。在2007年,林,Ray Zahab和美国运动员Charlie Engle一起完成了一个111天,7500公里的旅程,他们一起穿越了世界上最大,最危险的不毛之地。

他的体能极限令人印象深刻。团队医生Jeff Peterson说林总是精力充沛的。“当他完成了6000米的旅程后,林说他们能加速到一天跑100公里。他们做到了,我觉得很惊讶。”

运动员在高达50摄氏度的环境下跑步,他们途径战争蹂躏地区,没有休息的跑了36个小时。林最痛苦的经验是他很多天没有洗过澡。“在111天内我洗了4次澡。”他说。

林说正是因为这些经历让他决定把将来的冒险精力放在提高人们的水危机意识和募集资金处理全世界的水危机。

“在2006年我们穿过尼日尔沙漠的时候,我看到一个小男孩独自坐在广阔的沙漠中,他的父母,当地的牧人,为了取水要走300公里,这个7岁的男孩没有帐篷,不得不在沙漠里呆3天,他只有一小块羊肉和一点点的水,如果他的父母在取水的路上发生不测的话,这个男孩就会死。”

“为什么不搬到有井的地方呢,你可能会问。”他说道,“因为他们还怕被蚊子咬伤,抓成疟疾。”

“我不禁为这个男孩深感不安。”他说。他之后的旅程像2010年150天的“丝绸之路探险”一样都集中在提高人们水危机的意识上。

林说他没有受过任何特殊的训练。经验和技巧比年轻更重要,因为“精神不成熟的年轻运动员不能忍受长期旅行的孤独和痛苦。”

至于他,他摆脱寂寞的方法是听他MP3里的音乐和沉思,这帮助他赶走旅行中的枯燥无聊。

冒险充满了不可预测的风险,但林认为:“这不是在玩乐生活,这是对生活的一种尊重。

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(翻译:零a 编辑:Julie)

 
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