Taiwanese ultramarathon runner Tommy Chen (陳彥博) yesterday moved one step closer to fulfilling his quest of winning the 4 Deserts Race Series title after securing first place in the seven-day Atacama Crossing race in Chile.
Chen came out on top after finishing the seven-day, six-stage race in 28 hours, 58 minutes, 20 seconds.
Northern Ireland’s Neill Weir was second with a time of 29:51:39, followed by Germany’s Ben Dame, who finished in 30:21:35.
Photo taken from Tommy Chen’s Facebook page.
The four ultra-marathon races are the Atacama Crossing in Chile, the Gobi March in China, the Sahara Race in Egypt (which was relocated to the Namib Desert this year) and the Last Desert in Antarctica.
For each race, participants traverse 250km in seven days over rough terrain, with only a place in a tent and water provided.
Chen currently has the highest accumulative points among the athletes vying for the title.
The last race is scheduled to begin on Nov. 18 in the Last Desert in Antarctica.
In January, Chen said on Facebook that his challenge for this year is to be the 4 Deserts Race Series champion.
Prior to the Atacama Crossing, Chen said it would be the toughest of the four races, because the Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert.
Athletes running in the Atacama Desert could easily die of dehydration, he said.
As of press time last night, comments on Chen’s Facebook page indicated he had a fever and was still trying to regain his strength after finishing the grueling race.
Chen said the longest stage of the race was between day 5 and day 6, when he had to run continuously for 73.4km.
“I was ranked No. 5 or No. 6 when the race began on day 5,” he wrote. “In the first 50km, I was trying very hard to keep up with the runners who ran before [me]. I was throwing up and felt that my body had reached its limit. My will was shaken.”
Chen said that the route for day 5 and day 6 started with a 15km gravel road, followed by a hill and then a plateau that resembled the surface of the moon.
Participants ran down to the Valley of the Moon, which has a mixed surface of dirt, fragmented rocks and sand, Chen said.
For the last 15km, athletes needed to traverse a 13km inclined section before descending to Camp 6, he added.
“When I reached the 60km mark, I told myself that I needed to hang on and began to muster all my strength to catch up to Neill. The competition turned into a seesaw battle in the last 7 to 8km of the race. In the end, I beat him by running to the finish line 20 minutes earlier,” Chen said, adding that he was exhausted, and his feet were covered in blood and blisters when he finished the race.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has sent a telegraph to Chen congratulating him on his accomplishment.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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