The 41-year-old runner had hoped to break the 300-kilometre barrier -- one of his lifelong goals -- and said he could have done so if it had not rained. The weather was hot (up to 95F) for much of the race, with thunderstorms in the last two hours. Kouros' previous record was 294.103 kilometres (182 miles, 1316 yards). Kouros, who now holds Australian and well as Greek citizenship, has approximatel 70 standard and non standard records.
Following were his splits:
Hour 1: 13.600Km
Hour 2: 27.600Km
Hour 3: 41.200Km
Marathon: 3:04:00
50Km: 3:38:39
Hour 4: 54.800Km
Hour 5: 68.400Km
50 Miles: 5:53:43
Hour 6: 81.600Km
Hour 7: 94.800Km
100Km: 7:23:54
Hour 8: 107.600Km
Hour 9: 120.800Km
Hour 10: 133.600Km
Hour 11: 146.400Km
150Km: 11:18:30
Hour 12: 158.400Km
(Australian record)
Hour 13: 170.800Km
Hour 14: 183.200Km
Hour 15: 194.800Km
200Km: 15:29:07
(World record)
Hour 16: 206.000Km
Hour 17: 216.800Km
Hour 18: 228.800Km
Hour 19: 240.000KM
150 Miles: 19:15:42
(World record)
Hour 20: 249.600Km
250Km: 20:00:38
(World record)
Hour 21: 261.200Km
Hour 22: 272.800Km
Hour 23: 284.400Km
Hour 24: 295.030KM
(World record)
(Ultramarathon World: http://fox.nstn.ca/~dblaikie)
(Sahishnu Szczesiul/SCMT) (Kevin Tiller) (3ma97)
Ultramarathon runner Dave Taylor set out January 4 in an effort to set a world record by running 3.6 kilometres an hour for 1000 hours -- or the next 41 2/3 days. Using a 3.6K loop course next to Lake Illawarra, near Wollonggong, NSW, he runs 3.6K and then rests for the remainder of the hour.
Taylor set out at 8 p.m. (Australian Eastern Summer Time). He is raising money for Camp Quality (a charity for children with cancer).
"This morning, my wife and I went and ran a loop with him and he seems to be going pretty well," reports Neil Harper of the University of Wollongong, in southeastern Australia. "He has been going for 16 hours.
"He is mostly walking during the day while it is hot in order to conserve his energy. He is taking around 30-35 minutes during the day and around 25 minutes during the night while it is cool. It is fairly windy down there today. In fact, we spent 10 minutes fishing Dave's hat out of the water after it was blown into the lake by a gust of wind."
The holder of three world and seven Australian ultramarathon records, Taylor is trying to cover the equivaleyt of about 3,600 kilometres or the combined distance of four Sydney-to-Melbourne marathons.
The 45-year-old Liverpool-born runner is the father of three daughters. he runs a window cleaning business in Wollongong.
"The run started hundreds of years ago when some bloke was able to run around one kilometre an hour, then 1.2, 1.5, etc, until now it has reached around 3.5km/h," Taylor said. "That's 3.5km/h for 24 hours a day and there's no time for much sleep on the way."
His original plan was to run for about 40 minutes every hour. "Once I've done that I'll have about 20 minutes left in the hour to sleep before the beginning of the next hour and I head off again on another 3.6km run," he said. "There are about 200 to 300 people backing me in the organisation of the run at Camp Quality" he said.
Officials have been arranged through to ensure that all guidelines are met for the Guiness Book of Records. Lap counters have to sign off every hour, indicating how far Taylor has run and for how long. Ultramarathon runners statistician Andy Milroy has been contacted in England to confirm the process for measuring and recording to ensure that no disputes can arise should the new record be set.
Taylor finds it hard to predict how much he will raise for Camp Quality, but says that any money raised for children suffering from cancer is money they never had before.
"When I have been on the road to Melbourne and back, people just came up to you and gave you a cheque for $200 or other amounts." he said. "One school raised $1200 for me and a school kid presented the money to me on the run".
Taylor moved from Liverpool to Campbelltown, the south-western Sydney suburb and now lives in Wollongong but keeps returning to the Macquarie town because of the "tremendous support" he receives for his runs. So far he has raised more than $350,000 for community organisations by his running efforts and he has no intention of giving up.
Taylor has an impressive pedigree to call on for his forthcoming world record attempt. His statistics are:
1970 won Gosford Marathon 2hr 35mins.
1970 won Sydney to Newcastle 206km in 26hrs 13 mins.
1986 won Fairfield Games 24 hr track race. 178kms
1987 record Sydney to Melbourne and return. Solo run 1850km in 23days 16hrs.
1989 world record 1126km. Broke previous record by one day.
1989 finished Westfield run Sydney to Melbourne 1016km. Placed 17th.
1989 won Sports Star of the Year Award for Campbelltown.
1993 won Sydney to Melbourne AND RETURN 1850km in 19 days 22hrs. Broke previous record by 64 hrs, defeating Tony Rafferty.
1994 won Macarthur Duathlon.
1995 Sydney to Melbourne return - 1850km in 20 days 3hrs. First person to run there and back three times<.BR> 1996 record Sydney to Brisbane and return 2050km. Charity run for Ebony House Homicide Victims Support Group. NSW Premier Carr donated S20,000.
Taylor is ranked number one in Australia for all these times and distances, set in Caboolture, Queensland, in 1991:
200 miles - 2days ll hrs 2 mins
300km - 2days 5hrs 20mins
600km - 4days 13hrs 56mins
700km - 5days 8hrs 59mins
300 miles - 3days 17hrs 28mins
400 miles - 4days 22hrs 4mins
Australian ultrarunner Dave Taylor is off to a good start in his attempt to set a new world record for covering a fixed distance in each of 1000 consecutive hours.
"Dave Taylor is going strong," reports Neil Harper. "To break the record he has to run 3.6 kilometres during every hour. He is running a course which has been repeatedly measured by various parties to ensure its accuracy. It is down by Lake Illawarra in Warrawong.
"He has now run for 165 hours and will pass the 600km just after 7 p.m. January 11. He has no blisters or problems with his feet and is still wearing the same shoes that he started in. He does have sore knees which is an effect of running on concrete.
"I ran a couple of laps with him Saturday afternoon and he is moving along quite well. Both of the laps were under 30 minutes. This gave him more time to rest and he actually slept for the first time since he started the run seven days ago ! He was also pleased that he put in a few quick 20 minute laps last night.
"He is suffering a little from sunburn and has severely chaffed lips from the howling winds. A strong southerly wind has been sweeping across the lake for the last week and there has been no respite even in the middle of the night.
"Dave is in extremely good spirits but will take little credit for himself. He praises the support which he has got from the local charities and the community who are behind him all of the way. He is driven by the willingness to raise money for charity (camp quality) and has been assisted by a regular group of around 200 people.
"Whenever I have been down there, there has been at least five to 10 people there helping out and running with him. Dave said that he hasn't run a lap by himself ! There has also been good coverage by local media through the TV, radio and newspaper. He said that he feels the whole community is behind him. This is reflected by the number of passing motorits who acknowledge him and yell encouragement as they drive by.
Ultrarunner Dave Talyer has faltered in his bid to set a new world record for running the greatest distance in 1000 consecutive hours - but he is continuing with his run to raise money for charity.
"Dave overslept on Wednesday evening," Neil Harper reports. "He had been sleep for around 30 minutes and he just couldn't wake up to do his next lap. He completed 269 out of the 1000 hours within the conditions of the record." His total distance at the time was 968.4 kilometres.
"The great news is that there is no stopping the guy," Harper adds. "He is still going! He made a promise that he would raise some money for charity and that is what he is continuing to do."
The record attempt has convinced Taylor of two main points: the current 1000-hour record is tough and (2) sleep deprivation is a major obstacle in trying to challenge it. With as little as 15 to 20 minutes rest each hour, he found it impossible to establish a workable rest pattern.
"All of the nodding off isn't good for you," adds Harper, who has run with Taylor on numerous occasions since the run began."It is too hard on the body. (DAve) said that next time it should be done when the weather is a bit cooler -- and not to do it on concrete."
Taylor still plans to run the 3600 kilometres in the 1000 hours and to establish an Australian records for the 1000-hour run. "I was down there this afternoon and he is actually three hours ahead of schedule at the moment. He now tries to get ahead during the day and goes home to sleep for 3 hours in the middle of the night."
Dave Taylor completed his 1000-hour run Saturday with a record breaking 3600 kilometres distance covered during the period. He actually broke the Australian record of 3300-kilometres early in the week but finished outside the world best for the distance.
Taylor began his record breaking run by attempting to set a record for the most distance run every hour for 1000 hours. But he found that the old mark was too tough and he failed to wake for one of his scheduled runs.
After that, he revised his goal, attempting instead to run the greatest distance by an Australian within a 1000-hour period. He acheived his goal Satruday morning in front of a large crowd, and raised over $10,000 (AUS) for Camp Quality (a charity for children with cancer).
A large crowd accompanied him for his last lap around the 3.6 kilometre-course, which he has become very familiar with. He has battled the weather over the last couple of weeks in particular -- with both oppressive heat and alot of rain.
Name Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Total (Kms) 1 I. Curtis 186.8 152.8 129.6 122.0 130.8 114.0 - 836.0 2 G. Audley 168.8 122.8 126.8 129.6 137.2 131.6 - 816.8 3 A. Lucas 176.8 124.4 114.0 100.4 138.0 131.2 - 784.8 4 K. Mansell 161.2 120.8 122.0 126.8 118.0 128.0 - 776.8 5 P. Gray 139.2 111.6 107.2 102.0 112.4 128.4 - 700.8 6 J. Kocourek 195.6 114.4 110.8 85.6 68.0 90.4 - 664.8 7 B.Beauchamp 157.6 119.6 116.0 104.4 82.0 74.0 - 653.6 8 G. Watts 140.8 112.4 82.4 104.0 66.8 65.6 - 572.0 9 C. Young 134.4 87.2 86.4 91.6 83.2 78.4 - 561.2 10 J. Timms 130.0 70.4 119.2 92.0 92.8 32.4 - 536.8 11 J. Laky 101.2 74.4 74.0 85.6 80.8 90.4 - 506.4 12 S. Scanlon 141.2 82.0 71.6 74.8 66.4 66.8 - 502.8 13 N. Morriss 126.0 108.8 99.2 103.2 57.6 0.4 - 495.2 14 P.Armistead 128.0 84.8 65.2 65.2 66.8 75.2 - 485.2 15 E. Janosi 112.8 76.0 72.0 75.2 71.2 72.8 - 480.0 16 A.Kruglikov 210.4 123.2 92.4 2.0 0.0 0.0 - 428.0 17 N. Mercer 154.4 72.4 67.6 8.0 0.0 0.0 - 302.4 18 D. Kettle 112.4 49.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - 161.6Footnotes:
Nobby Young's great Australian walk is over. The 47-year-old Sydney letter carrier left his home in Gladesville, Sydney on February 28, 1993, and returned on February 28, 1994, after covering about 16,000 kilometres. In the process he set a new record for the world's longest continuous walk.
Young's walk was sponsored by Australia Post and was undertaken in support of Life Education Centres. It received enormous media attention. Along the way he was interviewed more than 350 times.
The event was serious but he had a lot of fun en route at his own expense, happily describing himself as "a silly old bugger," and regaling readers of Ultramag, the official publication of the Australian Ultra Runners' Association, with wise-cracking reports from the road.
"Before I left Sydney I spent a day in a 'media school' so that I wouldn't make a goat of myself in front of the camera," he reported. "The summary at the end of the day was that I was doing most things wrongly."
Young walked clockwise around the continent, finishing with a much publicized last leg with a police escort to the Australia Post State Head Office at "Strawberry Hills" in Sydney. Towards the end he wrote in one of his regular reports from the road to Ultramag: "It seems so long ago that Jim English and I left Sydney, not really knowing what lay ahead of us on such a long journey.
Even Perth, and the bolstering of the support team by the recruiting of Gwen Gould, seems like distant history. I'm pleased that I decided to walk only one lap of the island!
"It's nice to recall some of he people we have met. Here are two of the more memorable:
"The first is a bloke in Northern New South Wales who developed his farm as an adventure camp for kids and charges them a dollar each to stay. It's a great place, the kids love it, and each year the owner loses a bit more financially. No worries, this is what he intended to do.
"The second is a lady in Western Australia who thought that the churches were not caring enough about people and decided to deal directly with God. The result is that she runs 'open house' - on the property that she owns with her husband - for people who need respite from the pleasures of living. No charge, just stay a while and make yourself at home...
"Ever notice how the buns, the scoundrels, the crooks and the rip off merchants get a disproportionate amount of the media coverage?...
"Many times I wished that I had a camera with me to capture a particular view that I have had the thrill of seeing. Now I am pleased that we didn't, as what we have around us cannot be recorded on film, or anything else for that matter. It is a view, a feeling, a smell, a sound and an atmosphere that cannot be experienced in any other way than being there!"
Cliff Young, the potato farmer who became a household name after winning the 1983 Sydney to Melbourne race, has just set off on another jaunt.
At 75 - his birthday was February 9 - he plans to become the oldest person to run more than 16,000 km around Australia. In 1983, Ron Grant ran 13,383 km around Australia, minus Tasmania, in 217 days. (Nobby Young, a letter carrier who is not related, walked around Australia in 1993 and 1994 and has recently begun a walk around the world.)
Cliff Young says he's fit enough and age has never been an issue : "I'm pain free you could say. I can get back from a 20km and I stand on my head. I've got a lot of energy you know."
He also has a crew to match his enthusiasm. He started from Adelaide with Helen and John Powers of Wollongong, their twin daughters Paula and Bridgette and Trixi, the Chihuahua, and they will all share a motor home for eight or nine months.
Young's reason for running around Australia is to raise money for street kids. Sponsors fund the trip but money raised when the group puts out buckets in towns will go to City Missions in each State (Rotary in the Northern Territory).
Cliffy, as he is affectionately known, aims to run 65km to 75km a day, heading clockwise. His nickname became the title of his biography, Cliffy's Book, published in 1995.
"Special thanks to guest speakers Mike Strzelecki, Bart Yasso, Barry Lewis, Neil Weygandt, Ellen McCurtin, and Jeff Hinte, and to all of you who have answered questions posed by my students. I have a web page for the course at http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/ultrasem.html Each student wrote a research report, and I will post many of those reports on my page. There was one paper that was exceptional, written by Stephanie Nelson. She can be reached atsan2@lehigh.edu.
By Stephanie Nelson One April morning Spring became intoxicated
She is intoxicated and is singing and is dancing madly
She has become intoxicated by her joy, by her flowers
the bee hive too has buzzed, oh! this spring intoxication.
One afternoon in April, you fell in love, oh heart!
You fell in love and you are weeping, you're ashamed but don't admit it
You became intoxicated by the moon and your intoxication does not subside,
you became intoxicated by the nightingales by the sweet swallows,
One eve in April I will turn into a night bird
so that I can see your shadow and all your carryings on.
So that I can become intoxicated with you and discover your soul
so that I can remember your gaze and the taste of your kisses. (Yiannis Kouros)
There's the world class, the elite, then there's Yiannis. (Trishul Cherns)
He is just a man, he is not a "Greek God," but he has done many great things which many of us cannot even comprehend. The funny thing is that Yiannis couldn't comprehend them before he did them, either. Yiannis is a very special person who has a deep understanding of his own existence. That understanding is why he can run as he does, as a Golden Greek gone Australian.
Yiannis Kouros holds world records for 12, 24, and 48 hours, 6 days, and 1,000 miles. He is also the owner of many Greek and Australian records, along with the many course records he has set along his way. To state it this simply tells nothing of Yiannis himself. One can say, for lack of understanding, that it is pure talent that this man has. That each of his records was set by him with complete ease, as if he were exempt from experiences every runner goes through in any ultra race.
His achievements and success have come as a result of his love of running. "Achievements and records are coming on their own way as results of a long time relationship with running, the same way as the kids are born after a long relationship and love with somebody," Yiannis wrote.
Running to him, as to many of us, is a "kind of spiritual ecstasy." I asked him if he considered it a spiritual journey, and of course he replied with, "I do consider it a spiritual journey, but not a journey that has a necessary goal or end: we are spirits running from one type of life to another without stops or ends. To me what counts is the freedom to act and the joy it gives you when you try. Because the contest and our devotion to an attempt is more drastic, valuable and effective than the result or the success itself."
He found that music and songs -- any kind of rhythm -- together with thinking would allow him to survive. He also felt that the strength he had already acquired throughout his life would push him to the finish line.
Many world class runners from overseas were entered in that race, and Yiannis believed that most would finish ahead of himself. He wanted to break the 100 km, 200km, and the course distance pan-Hellenic records, and to finish as the first Greek. Obviously he did all of that, but not only that -- he won by over three hours, covering 250 km in 21:51. (Y.K)
A year later, Yiannis completed his most memorable race ever, the New York Road Runners' Club Six Day Race. He entered this race only wanting to run for twenty-four hours, to break the world record. He felt he had an extremely good possibility of doing it, as indicated by his Spartathlon, and a three-day stage race that he won in Austria.
He chose to break the 24-hour world record in the six-day race because he was in good form and felt that his speed was depleting with age, and he knew of no other race in which he would have a chance to do so. Yiannis had no intentions of continuing on for the entire six days.
Yiannis ran at a sub 7:00 pace, putting stares on the spectators' faces and whispers in their mouths. People could not believe what was happening. This guy was flying! Most of them did not realize that he was only going to run for 24 hours. They didn't know whether he could actually continue at such a pace, or whether he was going to crash. His competitors were anxiously awaiting his crash. It seemed impossible that he would continue on.(Kauff 79)
Even Yiannis himself started to doubt. He felt the disbelief and skepticism of the crowd, and it reached him too deeply. They were as inexperienced as he was at such distances. He needed some kind of stability that wasn't there. He reached 24 hours without a world record (163.5 miles), but he felt, although his feet were covered in blisters, he might continue on and break the 48-hour world record.(Y.K.)
Yiannis wrote, "With Sri Chinmoy, I think it was a two-way communication. First, I had the ability to psyche out him and automatically and unconsciously I gave credit and key weight to his entity and to his words. Second, he knew by his own way to read my mind and he knew how to feed my will. He also knew I was unique for a particular task."(Y.K.)
Sri had taken Yiannis aside, given him his hand, and said to him, "You will win!" Yiannis thought, "He must know it. He read it from my eyes and he saw it in my face that I wanted to win.
"I very strongly started to believe it. I always wanted to win but I had no security. Every day I was afraid that I would have to stop. But after Sri Chinmoy was there I had such beautiful feelings; insecurity and my fear were gone. Sometimes I even ran very fast I danced from joy. From that moment on I was sure to make it."(UR 19)
Yiannis did achieve his 24-hour world record goal in 1984 and again in 1985, in New York, during Hurricane Gloria. With his crew, friends, Sri Chinmoy and his followers there, Yiannis felt a security that wasn't present during the first few days of the six-day race. "They were inspiring me telepathically," Yiannis wrote. "I had a lot of confidence and will to achieve my goal, even against nature's will."
The 1000-mile world record went down in May 1988 at Flushing Meadow in New York. En route to achieving this, Yiannis lengthened his six-day world record to 639 miles, 622 yards. He recalls this race as his best ultra, which is quite an understatement.
Tarak Kauff got in touch with Yiannis four weeks prior to the race. Yiannis hadn't run at all since the Westfield (Sydney to Melbourne race) earlier that year. He was not in very good condition, and was still trying to get over a few injuries. His Achilles tendon was hurting him, along with his knee, which had been operated on the previous year. Despite all of this, he finally decided to run it. This would be the farthest Yiannis had ever run.(Kauff '95)
The first sleep he took, he wanted only one hour and forty five minutes, but, "I came to the point when my body was almost dead. Every day I was afraid I would stop. At other times I ran fast and almost danced with joy [again]. There was a war going on between my body and my mind. My first sleep was ten minutes only." He finished the race in 10 days, 10 hours, 30 minutes and 35 seconds (10d:10:30:35). He hit the wall on the ninth day, running only 69 miles, but still was able to break the world record by over 34 hours.(Kauff '95)
In 1994, Yiannis ran the 650-kilometreTelecom Tasmania run, which was a stage race. The temperature never rose very high above zero, the wind and snow scarcely ever ceasing. He was actually beaten in this race by 37 kilometers, by Anatoli Kruglikov.
Before the race had even begun, Yiannis felt that the stage-style race favored his opponents. "I like the continuous racing, which is more sustained -- the Tasmanian race probably suits the genuine marathon runners who are faster." (Mercury '94)
Yiannis' running history dates back to his high school years, when he was of the top boys in the 1500m and 3000m races in Greece. After joining the army, he began training for and running in many marathons. But, he says, "At the finish I always felt I could go farther."(UR) So he can. As stated earlier, the Spartathlon was his very first ultra. He has completed more than thirty ultras since then.
In almost all of his early races he obtained numerous world records. Many times he has achieved multiple records in the same race. In the first few years, he ran four to five ultras each year.
Still, he broke his own 24-hour record in April of 1996 at the Coburg races by close to 10 kilometers -- 294.5km. En route to that, he established the Australian records for 12 hours, 150 km, 100 miles, 200 km, 150 miles, and 250 km (more than 1:40' better than his '83 Spartathlon).
So although he is not racing as avidly as he was in the beginning, his fears of his speed diminishing have been diminished themselves. Or perhaps he has realized that moderation works better than speed.
Ultramarathon World made a comparison chart of Yiannis' 24 hour runs in New York in '84, Montauben in '85, Surgeres in '95, and Coburg in '96, for the 50 mi, 100 km, 100 mi, 200 km times, and final 24 hour distance. In both '84 and '85, his 50 mi times were sub 5:30', while his '95 and '96 50 mi times were close to 6:00' exactly. Each of his other splits in '95 and '96 were 20 to 30 minutes slower than those in '84 and '85, but the final result was improved in '95 by 555 yards, and in '96 by more than five miles.
Tarak Kauff describes him as, "one of those rare people who makes an impact on others, even when spending just simple time together. He is certainly one of the most remarkable people I have ever known . . . He says, quite sincerely, that he has no special talents as a runner. That there are many who are better runners, stronger and faster, than him." Tarak was head of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon team in New York, where Yiannis ran his best races.
Tony Rafferty was a runner in 1984 NYRRC Six Day Race. Later he interviewed Yiannis. " With a spirit of steel, physical grace and his legs pumping like well-oiled pistons, Kouros ran with a flow of power that seemed effortless," Rafferty stated. This description is quite ironic, as Yiannis has written that he wants to "demolish the myth that wants people to believe that long-distance runners run mechanically."
Yiannis told Rafferty that his goals in high school were "mostly to the arts. I wanted to paint, to sing. The artistic world is like being in heaven. I recorded two LP's." When Rafferty asked Yiannis who his heroes were, he told him: "I believe in the individuality of the personality. I am inspired by Greek history, mythology, ancient Greek athletes like Pheidippides, and modern runners, Zatopek, Kuts.
"I don't really have any heroes. Each person has something special to give." Rafferty ends his article with his portrayal of Yiannis. "This athlete, artist and musician is a courier with a message of Discipline, Desire, and Belief."
He told me that pain is irrelevant to Yiannis, that he has this amazing talent to be able to overcome the pain -- it's a part of who he is, within him. "God has given him this tremendous talent, and he can just do it."
He says that Yiannis is simply living in a higher level. "Yiannis is mentally the strongest in the world." Trishul eventually referred me to Yiannis himself, for I was asking him questions that he just could not answer. Only Yiannis has the answers.
When I asked Yiannis the wide-open question, "What went through your mind in your first ultras?" He wrote that that is the "key to my success and it's a long story, so that I can write a few books. There is a theory that says we need positive thinking to surpass the hard situation of our lives. In my life, because there is nothing positive to be remembered, I had to create energy, enthusiasm and inspiration from all the negative happenings that I had."
It is apparent through his Telecom-Tasmania run and his world record through Hurricane Gloria that his mentality is the factor of his success. I asked him why he feared death in Tasmanian race, but not in Hurricane Gloria in 1985. He replied:
"That's a hard question! When the Hurricane Gloria struck, I had a lot of confidence and will to achieve my goal, even against nature's will. Maybe I gained that confidence from the environment; I mean the people who surrounded me, my crew, friends in mind - who were inspiring me telepathically, Sri Chinmoy and his disciples.
" I didn't count them, but that's how I was feeling, and only with walking in that particular day and state I felt saved. Another factor is that in '85 I didn't have any children, but when the Tasmania run was held, I had two children for whom I had a lot of worries. This thought came to mind very strongly in that moment, and, then, I said to myself that life and family is more important, than winning races."
I believe that without his talent, he would never be able to do what he has. But more importantly, without his philosophies and understanding of life, he would never be able to do what he has. And perhaps the most important thing that has allowed Yiannis to be so successful is his mental strength, which he has built on throughout his lifetime.
I believe Yiannis holds within himself the secret to life, which after all is not really a secret, it's just that so many of us refuse to acknowledge it. He has acknowledged it and he is living it. Yiannis is an artist -- but not only does he compose music, not only does he write, and not only does he paint -- he creates life. His own life. Out of what he was given to work with, Yiannis has created a masterpiece.
References:
Briggs, John."Kouros Leads Despite Win By Bogar," The Mercury; Aug 94
Briggs, John. "Death Sensed as Kouros Caves In," The Mercury;11 Aug 94
Briggs, John. "Paradise Lost For Legend," The Mercury; 13 Aug 94
Kauff, Tarak. "Yiannis Kouros -- A Legend in the World of Ultrarunning," Ultrarunning Magazine; March 90
Kauff,Tarak. "Yiannis Kouros -- Quiet, Fearless, and Incomparable," Ultramarathon Canada; May/June 95
Kouros, Yiannis. "A War Is Going On Between My Body and My Mind," Ultrarunning Magazine; March 90
Rafferty, Tony. "Kouros -- A Living Legend," UltraRunner in Profile; June 95
"Big Run Odds Against Kouros," The Mercury;. Aug 94
UltraMarathon World: http//fox.nstn.ca/~dblaikie; 12 May 96
Interviews:
Trishul Cherns, 11/29/96
There was a last-minute scare when a wise-cracking well-wisher suddenly called out: "It's all off - he's changed his mind." But just after 10.30 a.m. on January 17, 1997, Nobby Young checked over a trolley-load of gear, embraced family and friends and, with a final wave, set off on what is planned as a solo, 100,000-kilometre round-the-world walk.
"See you all back here on January 17, 2007," he shouted before pushing out into the George Street pedestrian traffic, heading slowly south. On his first night, he was hoping to camp in the Royal National Park. Today, Wollongong; tomorrow, the world.
At least, that's the plan of the 50-year-old retired postman, who intends doing a quick - well, one year - warm-up walk round Australia, before heading for the United States (every State in three years), Canada, Europe, Fiji and New Zealand. "Ten years, to the day, all being well."
It may not be quite up there with swimming through shark-filled waters from Cuba to Florida, hanging in an upturned yacht in the Southern Ocean or crossing the Andes by toad. But it's still a big ask, especially of a slight man with dicky joints and a sore heel, inexplicably cut while packing the trolley at his home in Gladesville.
So is Nobby nuts? Not a bit of it. Far from being a crackpot, he is an accomplished ultra-marathoner who stopped long-distance running only when arthritis ruined his hips. Yoga got him back on the road and Young has been walking ever since. Ever greater distances.
Through 1993-94, he became the only person to walk around mainland Australia. The 16,000-kilometre journey, which took exactly a year to complete, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
There were good times: a late-night entry into Mt Isa, Queensland, "laid before me like a giant spaceship". There were bad times: Nob Hill, South Australia, "a real depressing place. When I asked a classroom of kids during a school visit, how many would smoke when they grew up, everyone put their hand up! Nothing else to do, I suppose."
Most of all, though, there were hard times as he strove and strode to beat the record for his walk. On this occasion Young - who is funding his walk from his own life savings at an estimated $7.50 a day - intends to have "a lot more fun".
Though he has been in hard training, he intends walking only about seven hours, five or six days a week. But for 10 years? "Well, yes. But I'm no masochist. I want to see things, meet people, enjoy myself," says Young, who is divorced.
There is little room on his purpose-built trolley for luxuries, though. A radio, a Walkman with a classical music tapes, two books (an enviro-guide to the US entitled How to Shit in the Woods and, by chance, the wit and wisdom of 2BL broadcaster Mike Carlton), a palm-top computer through which Young will send reports to a special Nobbywalk Web site, and, er, that's it.
Other items tightly packed into his 60-kilogram load include credit card, emergency supplies of rolled oats, a tent with pole that doubles up as defence-weapon and a first-aid kit containing, among expected things, "miscellaneous items".
Like what? "Well, condoms actually," said Young, who whether or not he arrives, is determined to travel hopefully.
Nobby has a web page at http://www.nobby.com which aims to detail his progress.