INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ULTRARUNNERS
posted on the above website - 6 May 2009

Week(end) Ultrawarrior --- A Journey of Significant Magnitude: Leeds to London (Nadeem Khan, 07 May)

At first read the journey that Christopher Carver is about to embark on would seem impossible and unattainable. But then you don’t really know him.

Christopher has had several ups and downs in his life. He moved from a healthy individual to being diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1990 to running again only to have to go back for treatments for lung cancer in 1993.

On 23rd May, Christopher is attempting a run from his hometown of Otley (10 miles north of Leeds) to London. This 218 mile run will test his mettle and his determination to complete the event.

In route, he will attempt to break the unofficial British records for 300km (34:26:29) and 200 miles (33:22:15). He is also in talks with the Guinness World Records (TM) to try and ratify this run from Leeds to London as an inaugural record.

Christopher is dedicating his run to raising money for Orchid which is an UK based charity aimed at raising funds for research and awareness into male specific cancers. Asked on what prompted his attempt, he says, “In November 2008 I read a blog by the American ultra runner Dan Rose, also a cancer survivor, who had ran 192 miles a few months earlier to raise money for a cancer charity. That got me thinking that perhaps I should try to raise some more money for a cancer charity in the UK.”

A humble person by nature, Christopher undermined his determination of being a survivor and his various onslaughts on ultrarunning records. He says, “My priorities definitely changed between 1990 and 1994 when I was having my operations and chemotherapy. Sometimes I just feel lucky to be able to run because I can clearly remember the times when running was impossible”

Christopher has every right to plan to break some of the existing records during his run. He is an elite runner to his own league. He ran 181 km in his first 24hr run in Tooting Bec, London in 2006. Armed with more knowledge about the full-day ultra runs, he went back in 2007 to win the Hull in 205 km. He followed this by a 228 km run in Tooting Bec, London [2008] finishing third in a very competitive race.

Attempting a multi-day run is never an easy task. When I asked him about the difficulties that he might endure in his run, he said, “Apart from the usual obstacles associated with ultra distance races (nutrition, lack of sleep, weather, etc) the other problems, for me at least, include running at night along unlit country roads, navigation, and toilet breaks.”

Every run that an athlete does is full of life lessons, things that they don’t teach in school. Christopher agrees and he says, “I am looking forward to exploring the limits of my endurance both physical and mental and trust will also play a large part of what I am doing. Trust between myself and my helpers.”

After attempting the run, Christopher has a pretty exciting series of runs that he wants to attempt during his ultrarunning career. Some of the races he wants to do include Indoor Spring 48 hr (Brno), Athens International Ultramarathon Festival, Basel 24 hr (Switzerland), Surgeres 48 hr (France), Self Transcendence 100km Paris, 100k Winschoten (Netherlands) and 100 km degli Etruschi (Italy) amongst several others.

Christopher, nothing but the best of luck to you as you embark on this journey of significant magnitude.

Nadeem Khan
Director of Communications
nadeem.khan@iau-ultramarathon.org

Disclaimer: This article is in the series of 'Week(end) UltraWarriors'. If you are or know someone who is planning on a challenging and enduring race, please feel free to contact me for a story. Please contact at least 3 weeks prior to the event.