Bruno Poirier (2007) Himalaya - Courir le Ciel. Editions VO2
Diffusion
Book with many photographs on the thoughts of those who have joined Bruno
in the high altitude mountain courses that he organizes
www.amazon.com
Richard and Adrian Crane (1984) Running the Himalayas.
The original cross-Himalayan run by two British brothers; an outrageous,
honest and humbling story. Some great pictures. If you’re lucky Amazon has a
second hand copy available .
Other sites of AMT runners
http://www.coolrunning.com.au/ultra/2001016.shtml
Bruno Poirier's report on the AMT II (2001)
http://amt2005cq.site.voila.fr/
Cyril Quetier’s beautiful and very large photo report of the 2005 AMT.
Also info on equipment, training etc. French.
http://courirsurlaplanete.free.fr/news.php
Gilles Greffier participated in the AMT 2007 as well as in the 2006
Ladakh trail. Reports, and info on training and equipment. French.
http://www.annapurna2007.com/
Austrian couple Ingrid and Markus Rossman’s site for the 2007 AMT
edition, including a photo report, equipment and training information.
German.
http://mandalatrail.monsite.wanadoo.fr
Gilles Besseyre’s AMT 2005 site: report and some photo’s. French
http://www.volny.cz/michalweiss/
Michael Weiss' AMT 2005 info: photo's and other info. This one is in
Czech....
FOR LINKS TO 2008 REPORTS: GO HERE
Trekking related sites
www.summit-nepal.com
Summit Trekking was my home for more than four years (1989-1993); you’re
looking for a good local trekking agent, tour operator, or a great place to
stay in Kathmandu (actually in Patan, on a hill overlooking the city)? This
is it.
http://www.basecamptrek.com/english/index.php
Base Camp Trek & Expeditions, the Nepali organizer of Bruno’s trips.
Their involvement is obviously beyond commercial interest! This is running
for and by runners....
http://www.project-himalaya.com/
Jamie McGuiness agency. Very informative site, Jamie authored good
trekking guide books and keeps exploring news possibilities. Great section
on health and altitude sickness!
http://www.snowleopard.nl/page.php
Snow Leopard, run by my friend Rene de Bos, the first Dutchman to climb
Everest. Great resource for custom tailored trips to the Himalaya
www.high-altitude-medicine.com
Current medical info on altitude sickness and other health issues
affecting visitors of mountainous regions
Other Himalaya runs
www.everestmarathon.org.uk
Everest marathon organized by British agency Bufo Ventures Ltd. This one
starts in Gorakshep and makes a loop towards Thame before finishing in
Namche Bazar.
www.everestmarathon.com
The Tenzing Hillary Everest marathon is organized by Bikram Pandey
(Himalaya Expeditions, a Nepali trekking agency) and starts at Everest BC
www.himalayan.com/sr1.html
Himalayan 100 mile stage race, organized by Indian company Himalayan run
& trek Pvt. Ltd. A five day race in the Darjeeling area of West Bengal, just
east of the Nepali border.
www.basecamptrek.com/french/trailsvtt.php
Bruno’s other trails (besides the AMT) are the 2nd
edition of the Ladakh trail in July 2008, the 3rd edition of the
Lafuma Sky race in the Khumbu in November 2008, and the 3rd
edition of the three week (!) Himal race, this time from Kanchenjunga to
Kathmandu planned for November 2010
http://www.dachhiridawasherpa.com/project.htm
Dawa Chhiri Sherpa lives in Switzerland. He has participated in and won
all of Bruno’s races. He organizes a multi-stage race in the Solu Khumbu
area himself in autumn of 2008.
Picture: courtesy of Bruno Poirier
Other multi-day runs
There are plenty multi-day runs (see below: ultrarunning sites) but there
a couple that tickle this Dutchman in particular. If I ever get the chance
to participate I definitely will:
http://www.pieterrogpad.nl/
This is as wild as it gets in The Netherlands. The race normally follows
the country's best known walking trail from the South to the North, covering
approximately 500 km in 7 days. The coming 2008 edition is double distance!
Starting in the North, following the coast South, cutting East through the
province where I was born, and then following the 'regular' route back
North. In 1999, I ran one stage in the first edition of this race. I have
fantasized about doing the full ever since.
http://www.couriretdecouvrir.com/
La grande traverse des Alpes is a 14 day crossing from the lake of Geneva
to the Mediterranean.
http://www.kipley.com/marcy/gta_report_2006.html
A very detailed report of the 2006 edition, including many, many photo's.
Similar to the effect of Cyril Quetier’s
report of the 2005 AMT on my very non-enlightened being, this report
ignited a strong desire....
Running sites: general
http://www.chirunning.com/
US Chirunning site of Danny and Katherine Dreyer
www.loopblessurevrij.nl
This is the Chirunning site of Marion Meesters, a Dutch master trainer.
www.asiarunner.com
Asiarunner is a new magazine for runners and adventure racers in the
Asian region. Its calendar is a very useful resource for those looking for
opportunities in the region
www.mountainrunning.nl
Dutch site on ,mountain running. Including info on training, material
etc.
Running sites: ultrarunning
www.ultraned.org
Ultraned is the Dutch portal for ultrarunning.
http://www.run100s.com/
Stan Jensen’s great site with many, many resources
http://www.multidays.com/
The resource for multiday events, worldwide
Running sites: ultrarunners
http://members.home.nl/ultrasport/index.html
Henk Sipers, multi day trail running soul mate from the Netherlands
http://www.janknippenberg.nl/
Jan van Knippenberg, legendary Dutch ultrarunner; author of a book, long
out of print but just available again, that inspired me to explore distances
beyond the marathon. It explores the historical importance of long distance
running and argues for running as a way of life
www.dacchiridawasherpa.com
Dawa Chhiri Sherpa lives in Switzerland. He has participated in and won
all of Bruno’s races. He organizes a multi-stage race in the Solu Khumbu
area himself in autumn of 2008.
http://www.100mcnl.org/
They’re a funny bunch these guys. Every time I run beyond marathon
distance in the Netherlands (which is not often....), I meet at least a
couple of those featured on this site.
Running sites: Races
www.jungfrau-marathon.ch
Jungfrau marathon, my introduction to mountain running (1998 and 1999);
superb course, but very difficult to enter these days.
http://climbathon.sabahtourism.com/2008/main.php?page=2
Kinabalu climbathon, 2250 meters of altitude gain in only 8,5 km, a turn
around at 4,095 meters and then all the way down again.
Check the page with photo's and try to find me in the crowd; same page
also has a short video impression of the 2006 women
and veterans' race
Picture: courtesy of Bruno Poirier
www.thailandmarathon.org
The is site has info on some Thai marathons and other races, including
the 10 k UN Run in Bangkok, and the MIZUNO River Kwai half marathon in
Kanchanaburi
The very local 10 k Oknha Khleang Moeung in Pursat
(Cambodia) was
organized for the first time in 2007. It had a fun course along the Steung
river, but was too hot for most foreign participants.
www.bkkmarathon.com
The Bangkok Standard Chartered marathon doesn’t have a good name because
of the air quality. However, I found it very well organized, and by far not
as bad as its reputation suggests.
www.smloop.tk
This approx. 55 k trail run in the Southern most part of the Netherlands
(with half and full marathon options) was a group run organized by and for
runners. Great course, great company.
www.sundownmarathon.com
My running mate Joe Collins and I are registered for the double marathon
distance in the first edition of this Singapore night run.
Running sites:
the body, the mind and the unknown
I tend to spend a lot of time browsing book stores,
libraries and the internet. Way too much time, I admit. The only defense I
have for this is that it allows one of the very few real talents I seem to
have to show itself: I can smell what’s good out there. Even if I’m a total
novice on a certain subject, my instincts are often pretty accurate (as
confirmed by ‘experts’ :-). Here I reference some of the running related
‘how do things work’ stuff that I come across and find interesting. If
you’re an expert: let me know if I’m right.
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/latta.htm
This article on ‘hitting the wall’ discusses some of
the physiology behind the energy dynamics of running. What makes it
especially interesting from the perspective of the AMT is the role oxygen in
this. Now what again was is short supply running at altitude.....
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_news_frameset.html?http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050113_PPO_ExerciseFatigue.html
An article by the science guru of the ultra-distance
community, Tim Noakes. It makes a convincing argument about the importance
of our brains in keeping us going. But beyond that I love his open-minded
approach – it’s all just theory, we really don’t know - to what he calls the
unattainable truth.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=256348&page=1
This article describes research findings that humans
are born to run. Very much in line with the book by
Jan van Knippenberg that made me go beyond the marathon.
http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/holly.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,476642,00.html
These are two articles on the Marathon Monks of Mount
Hiei. This must be the ultimate in the use of running as a spiritual
discipline, and one that makes one wonder about the validity of anything
that is claimed on the basis of ‘scientific’ evidence
A well-know Buddhist scholar has written a monograph on
them; check it out on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0877734151?v=glance&n=283155
And there is even a film on these monks:
http://www.millennium-tv.com/Monks.htm
Swimming
http://www.totalimmersion.net/
What chirunning is to running, Total Immersion (TI) is to swimming. It's
actually got a much longer history and has entered mainstream training to a
much larger extent that chirunning which is just beginning to scratch the
door....
Friends and other connections
www.inzicht.org/inzicht.htm
Site of the Dutch quarterly Inzicht, a magazine about non-dualist
teachings, edited by my friend Han van de Boogaard. Even if you’re not
Dutch, a visit to the site is worthwhile for its links page. Dutch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Bead_Game
The Glass Bead Game (German: Das Glasperlenspiel) is the last work and
magnum opus of German author Hermann Hesse.
Places
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nijmegen
http://english.nijmegen.nl/
Nijmegen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/varanasi
Varanasi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kathmandu
Kathmandu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/phnom_penh
www.p2h3.com
www.ka-tours.org
Phnom Penh
