Time: April 10, 2002. Place: in the middle of the Sahara. "I saw a huge sand dune in front of me, about the height of a 10-story building. I just got to the foot of the dune and I couldn't see my own shadow, so I couldn't tell the direction. A whirlwind brought up sand that flew straight into my ears and I couldn't hear a thing. ... This was the biggest sandstorm of the past 25 years. A few years ago, a big sandstorm killed some marathon champions, so I wondered `Will it happen to me?' God no!"
On that day, Kevin Lin (
Another ordeal took place just last Sunday, when Lin was in Chile's Atacama Desert stuck in a 5km2 gravel desert, running alone in 50℃. He'd finished the last of his water and was lost. Then he fainted and fell flat onto the hard ground.
But he got up and found the strength and determination to beat 99 of the world's top runners in the The Atacama Crossing ultramarathon, a grueling seven-day and six-night race covering 270km.
His victory made Lin the first Taiwanese and first Asian runner to win an ultramarathon race.
"I can't let Taiwan lose face, especially when everybody has seen the Taiwanese flag on my rucksack," Lin said a couple weeks ago in the comfort of a Taipei Starbucks before departing for Chile.
To the surprise of some, but not Lin, he kept his promise.
Top of the charts
Lin is now Asia's No.1 ultramarathon runner and ranks in the top 3 in the world. In his first ultramarathon race, the one in the Sahara in 2002, he placed 12th and the following year in the Gobi Desert he came in third, behind Charlie Engle and Ed Wang, both from the US.
Seeing Lin in person one gains an even stronger admiration for his strength and determination. The 27-year-old is only 163cm tall and weighs a slight 55kg, hardly the typical athlete's figure. It's difficult to imagine him enduring the dehydration, fatigue, drastic changes in climate and terrain in races as cruel as ultramarathons.
"In an ultramarathon race, you have to sign a deposition in case of death. Because it is natural that you face life-threatening situations in these hazardous environments," Lin said.
"Can you believe that for my first Sahara competition I was so poor that I even had to borrow the US$2,600 registration fee to join the race?"
The Sahara race was started with the encouragement of Lin's godfather Clive Saffery, the CEO of Coca-Cola for the greater-China region, who is also an avid runner. "What do you want to accomplish in your life to feel no regret?" Lin asked Saffery, who replied: "Of course it's the challenge of crossing the Sahara."
And that's how Lin began joining ultramarathon races.
"I can't say what exactly motivated me to take on these challenges. Maybe it has to do with my upbringing."
Born a small and skinny boy, Lin's nickname was Ah-bi-ah, meaning "little duck" in Taiwanese. Lin's parents were both laborers, his father coming from a farming family in Yunlin County. Since childhood, Lin said his family was mocked by neighbors who said their family would not have a good future.
"My father wanted me to be the first in the family to go to university. But I've loved running since I was small and I didn't study business as father wished" he said.
Against his father's will, Lin attended a high school famous for its track-and-field program. His rebellious spirit made Lin feel he had to make himself the best runner to prove himself to his father. In college, apart from his daily training, Lin had to take two side jobs to earn living expenses and to support his running career. He once took a night job as a taxi driver and waited tables at coffee shops. "I set a goal to earn NT$1,000 a day and I wouldn't sleep without reaching that goal. Sometimes I slept only three hours a day," he said.
Special tactics
Lin also developed special tactics for running ultramarathon races, especially on sand.
"I like to follow people and step in their footprints. The reason is simple. Their footprints are bigger. And the footprints make the sand more firm and more condensed. I have small footprints so I can reduce the collapsing of the sand when I step on those footprints," Lin said.
"I have good physical vigor and I can take high heat that people usually cannot handle," he said.
In the Atacama Crossing last week, Lin finished the race of nonstop winding sand hills, despite twice becoming lost in the scorching heat. And in the last 16km stage, while the rest of the contestants were exhausted, Lin dashed to the finish line, beating the second-place Charlie Engle by an hour.
Along with heat, Lin has also suffered extreme cold during races. In the Gobi Desert Challenge, he had to cross a glacial river. "I am short. So the icy water went up to my knees, whereas for others it only went up to their ankles," he said. "The cold really stops you from moving."
But the hardship of extreme conditions is unlikely to stop Lin. After finishing the 270km Atacama Crossing in a record time of 27 hours, 36 minutes and 29 seconds, Lin plans to join an ultramarathon race in the Amazon in September. And next year he plans to run across the South Pole.
"There is one addiction that I can never quit. That is my patriotism. Since the time in the Sahara, I took the Taiwanese flag and enjoyed applause from international runners," Lin said. "I vow that I will use my feet to deliver the Taiwan spirit to the ends of the world."
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