About the author:
Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.
Today, during the 36th day of the 52-day 3100 Mile Race, Tsai Wen-Ya, the second overall runner and stunning woman athlete from Taiwan, went past 2400 miles, reaching this mark in 35 days +10:20:29. She passed the former record holder Kaneenika Janakova, who held the previous mark of 37 days+16:49:20 from 18 June to 25 July 2017. She is on course to set new world bests at 4,000km.
Wei-Ming Lo, the 59-year-young runner, ran 141 laps today (77.3 miles/ {124.4 km}. He has run over 70 miles in the last 8 days, including two of those 8 days going over 77.3 miles. Tsai Wen-Ya also passed 3900 km today, setting the mark in 35 days+16:23:30. She passed the previous record held by Kaneenika Janakova, which was set from 18 June to 26 July 2017. Finally, Andrea Marcato has only 518.82 miles remaining before he crosses the finish line for the fourth time. He will be undefeated the four years he has tested himself in the longest race.
Yang Huang-Lan, or Nina as everyone calls her, has struggled the last few days. The repetitive nature of running so far on a hard surface affects all the runners in some way. They all know and realise any one of them could succumb to an injury. Over 52 days, trying to balance running the required daily mileage with taking on enough nutrients to keep the body strong, while also aiming to have as much rest as is feasible to allow for some recovery each day, is all part of the event's physical challenge. Nina developed a slight hip flexor strain on Day 33 which progressed quickly. The race medics and masseurs have done their best to work some magic, but in the end, rest was needed to effect proper healing. She is resting but still comes to the race each day for a few hours to offer encouragement to the other runners. If things progress well she would like to return and run again. Although she has fallen behind the required daily cut-off to reach 3100 miles, the essence of just experiencing 52 days at his event, whatever distance you cover, is long established. Time will tell for there is always a fine line between bravado and good decision making!
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