SMALL FEATS THAT GO UNNOTICED
There is an event in Egypt that is in it's 5th year of operation called the 100 km Pharonic Relay. As the story goes, an Egyptian archeologist found a rock in a tomb that told the story of a group of soldiers that ran this 100km race every year, so an organization in Egypt turned it in to an event. It starts at a small, unknown pyramid in Fayoum Oasis and ends at the step pyramid in Sakkar. For the most part it is a fairly low key, come out and participate kind of event with about 12-14 teams. There is also around a dozen people that come and run it solo as an ultramarathon.
Last year I ran a 20 km leg of this race. I was quit happy with my leg (about 1:30 min) as this was a decent time for me. Our team was near the bottom in the team event with most of our team new to running and averageing around 2:10 for the 20 km. We had a great time and everyone involved seemed to become more motivated to run.
In that race an Egyptian gentleman by the name of Mahmoud Dehaise completed the entire 100km on his own and won the event for the 4th straight year. When they announced his time as 8 hours 52 minutes I thought I must have heard wrong. It wasn't until I was able to look it up on the internet that I was fully able to appreciate this accomplishment. This year I was absolutely stunned at the banquet when they announced that Mr. Mahmoud Dehaise had broken his own course record by completing the race in 7 hours, 54 minutes, and 46 seconds...for 100k!!
Now the running community in Egypt is very small. Limited to a couple small Egyptian clubs and a group of ex pats, so Mr. Mahmoud Dehaise gets his name announced at the awards banquet each year, gets a few cheers and handshakes, then basically goes back to obscurity and putting in many, many solitary miles on the road.
I wonder how many other people out there completed their own sub 8 hour 100km races everyday with no accolades. People who have a habit of doing extra-ordianry things. People who do these things because something inside drives them. People who don't need someon patting them on the back, or cheering crowds to push themselves to great achievements.
There is an event in Egypt that is in it's 5th year of operation called the 100 km Pharonic Relay. As the story goes, an Egyptian archeologist found a rock in a tomb that told the story of a group of soldiers that ran this 100km race every year, so an organization in Egypt turned it in to an event. It starts at a small, unknown pyramid in Fayoum Oasis and ends at the step pyramid in Sakkar. For the most part it is a fairly low key, come out and participate kind of event with about 12-14 teams. There is also around a dozen people that come and run it solo as an ultramarathon.
Last year I ran a 20 km leg of this race. I was quit happy with my leg (about 1:30 min) as this was a decent time for me. Our team was near the bottom in the team event with most of our team new to running and averageing around 2:10 for the 20 km. We had a great time and everyone involved seemed to become more motivated to run.
In that race an Egyptian gentleman by the name of Mahmoud Dehaise completed the entire 100km on his own and won the event for the 4th straight year. When they announced his time as 8 hours 52 minutes I thought I must have heard wrong. It wasn't until I was able to look it up on the internet that I was fully able to appreciate this accomplishment. This year I was absolutely stunned at the banquet when they announced that Mr. Mahmoud Dehaise had broken his own course record by completing the race in 7 hours, 54 minutes, and 46 seconds...for 100k!!
Now the running community in Egypt is very small. Limited to a couple small Egyptian clubs and a group of ex pats, so Mr. Mahmoud Dehaise gets his name announced at the awards banquet each year, gets a few cheers and handshakes, then basically goes back to obscurity and putting in many, many solitary miles on the road.
I wonder how many other people out there completed their own sub 8 hour 100km races everyday with no accolades. People who have a habit of doing extra-ordianry things. People who do these things because something inside drives them. People who don't need someon patting them on the back, or cheering crowds to push themselves to great achievements.
posted by Brawn of the Oasis at 2:21 PM
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