Earlier this year the comedian Eddie Izzard ran a marathon a day for 27 days in South Africa. Testing his 54-year-old body to its limits, at the end of the final day he gasped, ‘It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m very tired.’
The feat raised US$1 million for Sports Relief.
Such inhuman levels of endurance and pain won’t be on show at the inaugural Phu Quoc Marathon on Jun. 11, but completing the 26 miles and 385 yards, or 42.195km, in tropical heat will still be a big ask for even the most experienced of runners.
One such person who has tested his willpower and endurance to the limit is race director, Marcel Lennartz. Having lived in Vietnam for 21 years, the Dutchman went down the path of so many expats in this country — he stopped doing exercise and put on weight. That all changed seven years ago when a friend challenged him to run 20km on a treadmill. He managed it and from there went on to run triathlons.
‘I’d never done a triathlon before,’ he says. ‘In Mui Ne, 7 or 8 years ago I was last to finish. I didn’t care. Then I did the triathlon in Hoi An 2 or 3 times, I finished almost last. After that I started to improve my swimming and my cycling.’
3 years ago, around the time of the rst Ho Chi Minh City Run, he joined a local running club. Now at its helm, he has seen the group grow in size — they run 3 to 4 times a week. However, his own personal Eddie Izzard moment, his moment of calculated madness, came in early 2015 when he decided to run from Saigon to Vung Tau.
Although 20 people signed up for the run, when the group finally undertook the 100km or so from Saigon to Vung Tau, only 3 people took part. 1 of them was Marcel. ‘People always said, ‘You can never do this run to Vung Tau’,’ he says, ‘but I ended up showing them the middle finger.
No Half Measures
At 1 of the triathlons in Hoi An, Marcel met David Shin from Sporting Republic — he was the first person Marcel had encountered who had completed a full Ironman. Marcel was impressed.
Then in 2012 Marcel ran the Phu Quoc Half Marathon organised by Sporting Republic. After the race, he spoke to David a few times, but it was through a friend in Hoi An that Marcel was asked if he would like to work with the sport management and marketing company to put together a second half-marathon in Phu Quoc. Marcel and David started to chat, and from there decided to stage a full marathon, with Marcel as the race director.
The inaugural race on Saturday, June 11 should see around 200 participants taking part in 4 different events — the 42km, the 21km, the 10km and the 5km. Marcel believes about 30 people will be running the full marathon.
‘The majority of people will be doing the half-marathon,’ he says, ‘while very few will be taking part in the 5km race, as most people won’t fly to Phu Quoc just to run 5km.’
They’ve been working with the Phu Quoc authorities who will be providing volunteers and helping with logistics. ‘They’ve been absolutely fantastic to work with,’ says Marcel. And for anyone who ran the half-marathon in 2012, the route will be different.
‘[When I was scouting the route] I ran the 2012 course again and there were some problems. A lot of the GPS on Google Maps is out of date. Also there is too much sun on the old route and too much dust. And because we’re organising the run in early June, in the worst case scenario you’ll get rain and it can get really muddy.’
The result is that more of the race will be on-road than in the past, not that it diminishes the experience of running a marathon in Phu Quoc. According to Marcel, there are some stunning views along the course.
The key, though, is the finish line, everyone’s ultimate goal. Located at Long Beach Resort, a property with 2 swimming pools, Marcel has something special prepared.
‘1 thing about running is that when you finish, you really want an ice-cold bath,’ he says. ‘So we are going to fi ll 1 of the pools with ice and make a huge ice bath.’
Indeed, even Eddie Izzard got into bath mode, spending an hour a night submerged in ice-cold water. A common practice among elite athletes, it helps muscles recover faster.
And after 42km of running in the tropical heat of Phu Quoc, recuperating will be as important as the race itself.
For more info on the Phu Quoc Marathon, click on sportingrepublic.com/phuquocmarathon. Marcel organises most of the runs for runclub.vn. Their facebook group can be found at facebook.com/groups/runclub.vn. – Word Vietnam [30.05.2016]