Fear and loathing in the Gobi: ultrarunner overcomes human rocks and bush giraffes to hallucinate his way to record victory
Former football coach Dan Lawson says ‘5 per cent of me knew where I was’ as he just keeps hold of reality to conquer China’s 400km ‘Route of Xuanzang’
They called him “da shu”, or “uncle”, because race organisers thought he looked old. The skinny, tattooed Englishman with dyed bright blue hair even showed up in white fluffy slippers – “borrowed” from his hotel in Beijing.
This was not what they expected from an elite foreign athlete and European 24-hour champion.
But last week, Dan Lawson won the third edition of Ultra Gobi, a 400km non-stop, self-navigating race in Gansu province, China.
The softly spoken 43-year-old blitzed the 400km course in a record of just under 71 hours, breaking the previous mark by 21 hours. He slept for less than an hour in total.
Limited to 50 invited elite athletes and designed to put China on the ultra racing map, participants run with limited equipment, thanks to water stations every 10 kilometres and rest stations with drop bags and food every 30km.
Having had some rest,Lawson then went back to the finish line to greet the other athletes, lead by Italy’s Nicola Bassi, who came in 10 hours behind in second. He was also back at the finish for the last runners, 60 hours later in the middle of the night.
