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Injury stops ultramarathon star Lin in his tracks

Taiwanese ultramarathon star Kevin Lin (林義傑) has had to abort an 80km run through the Canadian Arctic because of a foot injury, his coach said yesterday.

In preparation for a 500km run across the Scandinavian Arctic next year, Lin left Taiwan on Wednesday for Canada to run an 80km marathon. However, the recurrence of an ankle injury forced him to quit after 35km, his coach Pan Jui-ken (潘瑞根) said.

"He [Lin] suffered a malleolus inflammation when he was running in the Sahara," Pan said.

"But given the lack of medical resources and time, it wasn't possible to take proper care of the injury. He just kept on running and the injury worsened," Pan said.

Prior to his Arctic misadventure, Lin completed the first ever coast-to-coast run across the Sahara last month. He has completed several marathons in extreme climates and terrains, including runs across the Gobi Desert in China, the Atacama Desert in Chile, the Amazon rainforest and Antarctica.

During his brief stay in Taiwan after his Saharan adventure, Lin's schedule was so busy that he couldn't arrange for an appointment with a doctor to treat his injury, Pan said.

"The only thing we could do was prevent his injury from getting worse," Pan said.

However, the terrain in Canada exacerbated the injury.

"When you run in the snow, your feet sink in, so you have keep pulling your feet out," Pan explained.

"When you pull your feet out, you're using the joints on your knees and on your malleolus, and that's what caused a recurrence of the inflammation for Kevin," Pan said.

Lin is expected to return to Taiwan on the 30th.

"Hopefully this will teach him to take proper care of any injuries before his next run," Pan said.
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