Sport: January 2008 Archives
Peer pressure, frequently the scapegoat of the teen smoker. Unfortunately I'm not a teenager anymore but I had subconsciously hatched a plan whereby 'peer pressure' would be my go-to-guy once again. Except I wasn't sneaking for a crafty B&H behind the Design block, I was in the middle of the foreboding downtime between signing up for Tough Guy 2008 and actually going to Staffordshire and confirming that a) I am tough or b) As I feared, I am in fact quite weak. Should I fail, I would say "pah, never wanted to do it anyway."
You may have caught wind of the madness in the national press, or maybe I was just particularly sensitive to it in the vain hope that a hero-shot would propel me to Redgrave-esque infamy. That didn't materialise. But I feel that the determination of the 5380 competitors and the creativity of the course designers warrants a mention. Imagine if the assault course from the Krypton Factor was hi-jacked by Beelzebub himself and you would be coming close. We tackled burning bales, dead-end tunnels, sky-wires, underwater caverns and miles of tough terrain.
I hear 3000 completed the course, the rest succumbing to hypothermia, exhuastion, injury or weak will. Organiser Billy Wilson, an ex-Grenadier Guard now in his 70's, explains it all:
"I say look boys, here's your chance to be taken to the absolute limits of your endurance. I push them to near death: you step over on to the other side. You go into a state of near hypothermia, and you open your mind to new revelations, like an artist's vision, you open up the doors in your mind. You see a better world, away from the materialism that's gnawing away at us all. You think of guys who fought in the war, and now in Afghanistan. You have to give kids today a sense of that. This is my way of thinking."
I'd like to thank Billy for creating Tough Guy. It was an extremely demanding, unbearably cold, uniquely painful, superbly rewarding way of spending a day. Thankfully my friends and I completed it. We won't be going back.
It's been said that Motocross is to MotoGP what Go Karting is to Formula One - a breeding ground for the next generation of motorsport talent. Just as Lewis Hamilton, David Coulthard and certain others have honed their driving skills on the kart circuit from the moment they could climb behind the wheel 
you need look no further than the young Irish bike riding sensation Jonny Rea, to see how motocross can shape the skills of the world class Supersport rider. Shape and add an extra dimension I would say, if you've ever seen the way Jonny rides Cadwell Park and lifts the racebike clear at the classic photo opportunity ... not exactly what the 50 thousand pound corner hugging superbike was made for but something truly spectacular to witness for the viewing public.
Anyone that made it to the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Friday night for the first Supercross event of 2008 might have been left thinking "which one here is the next Jonny?" Indeed while SUSO MVR-D Suzuki's own Carl Nunn battled it out against the best Americans in the 250 and 450 classes the race of the night was definitely in the junior class (riders from as young as 5 to 10 if I remember correctly) where for just under 2 laps it was nip and tuck at the front. Then with just over 1 lap remaining all of the leading 3 collided in a heap! The young snapper in fourth, all 8 years old of him, came piling through to take the honours. Incredible stuff! In the crowd we were all on our feet throughout the race displaying a full range of emotions from excitement for the competition, to concern for the youngsters' safety to, in my case, outright jealousy that I never got into the sport at their age. What a way to learn, what an experience for the young men and what a training ground to find the next Valentino Rossi! That is if these boys do indeed ever feel inclined to give up the dirt for the tarmac. And these days there is infact a third avenue of opportunity on offer to the talented motocross rider, and as the clip below shows, for these creative, determined (kinda crazy) individuals, the sky really is the limit...
The Andy Warhol Foundation say they were delighted to work with a brand like Burton which, in their words, “values and embraces Andy’s creative spirit”. Burton just always seem to get it right. They’re constantly coming up with imaginative little ideas to keep giving something back to the snowboard community. And now they’re encouraging people to break the law with their Sabotage Stupidity campaign against the four remaining US resorts where snowboarding is prohibited. They want riders to sneak in, ‘Poach’ and film the whole thing with a view to posting it on the Burton site. Where most brands worry endlessly about treading on people’s toes and sticking to the middle of the road, Burton has never been averse to sticking its neck out a bit and taking a risk or two. ‘If you stay in the middle of the road then you’re gonna get run over’ seems to be their mode of thinking. And we like it.
Anyway, here’s to adidas reminding us all what it really means to play, to be in a team, to work together for something on and off the court, pitch or wherever it is you choose to do your thing.
Dean Karnazes is a myth. Or at least it seems that way. His achievements are so staggering that we find them hard to believe. The Telegraph has likened him to a comic book hero. That doesn’t surprise me much; anyone who can run 135 miles through Death Valley in 120 degree heat usually doesn’t bother: they just fly. In tights.
Aside from the costume, Karmazes really is the closest living thing to a superhero. His one weakness, he says, is that, like his Marvel brothers, he thinks he can do anything, that he can’t be beaten, that his desire to push himself to such ridiculous levels might one day bring him down. To me, that seems unlikely: I doubt Mother Nature herself could fashion strength enough to dent this man’s dogged persistence.
Last year, Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, finishing with the New York marathon which he duly completed in three hours thirty seconds. He carved a trail across the country and, much like Forrest Gump, garnered loyal disciples along the way - none of whom could stay with him for long, of course. But he got people running. And so the Americans love him for the same reasons they love Anthony Robbins - because he inspires them. They love nothing more than a group high five after a rousing “who’s with me” kind of speech before they settle back in for an afternoon with Jerry Springer and a bag of crisps, perhaps washed down with a litre of sprite. But Karnazes isn’t selling the latest ‘seven steps to success’ guide for those who failed to find it with eight. He inspires simply by doing what he does. By running. And running. And running.
He ran when he was young, too, but it was only after one night sat drunk in a San Francisco bar that he started to run for real. Resisting the urge to vomit, he staggered home that night, took off his trousers, put on a pair of old trainers, and started to run. He didn’t stop all night. In the morning he reached a payphone 30 miles from where he’d set off, called his wife who came to pick him up, and promptly passed out in the back of the car. Karnazes believes he changed that night, that he realised then and there that his body contained limits that he’d never truly explored. What were those limits and how far could he go? These are the kind of questions that now drive Karnazes’ extraordinary existence.
So how does he do it, how can a man run 350 miles straight in three days without sleep? Well, when not competing, his diet is rigorous: grilled salmon five nights a week and no processed or fried foods. Fruit is largely avoided because it contains too much sugar. Come raceday, though, the adage is simple: “The more fat the better”. Fat contains twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates do, so that means pizza, cheesecake, eclairs, cookies and chocolate. He carries a cellphone on each long run so he can order pizza to pick up further down the road. He also sleeps far less than your average mortal, averaging four hours a night compared to most people’s eight. And make no mistake about it, if you want to be a superhero too then you need to train - hard. Karnazes has done it for so long now that he can wake up on any given day and go out and run a marathon as we might a 3k jog round the block. He has grown accustomed to pain. It makes him happy. And I bet you know exactly what he means. We all know that even the slightest piece of exercise can soothe the soul. It might tire our bodies but it motivates the mind. As Karnazes says, “There is magic in misery”.
But imagine that misery! Imagine the pain. Imagine what it feels like 250 miles in when all you can think of is the 100 that remain. And imagine not being afraid of it all. That’s what it feels like to be a superhero. Or Dean Karnazes.
“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.” NAPOLEON
