Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Carnegie: “I’ve never seen<br />
someone so close to the edge,<br />
yet able to continue regardless.<br />
I know from my own experience<br />
of running ultramarathons that<br />
after 20-plus hours on the go<br />
I don’t have the patience for<br />
photos, chat or anything much<br />
beyond head down, gritting<br />
things out. James, however,<br />
never failed to respond whenever<br />
I asked for a portrait. I suspect<br />
that when I popped up in equally<br />
bizarre and random places along<br />
the route to document him, the<br />
company brought much-needed<br />
relief from the silence and<br />
confinement of the desert.<br />
“To help me evaluate James’<br />
mental cognition throughout the<br />
race, I’d sought the opinion of<br />
PhD researcher Chris Howe from<br />
Kingston University, who is<br />
heavily involved in investigating<br />
the physiological, nutritional<br />
and psychological responses<br />
to ultramarathon running. On<br />
his advice, I attempted to test<br />
James at checkpoints, using<br />
a series of relatively simple<br />
cognition tasks. After 200km,<br />
he no longer had the mental<br />
energy to face this, nor me the<br />
temerity to put him through it.”<br />
“Coming into the last<br />
50km on day four,<br />
lips were blistered<br />
and sun-cracked”
Change language