Taiwanese ultramarathon runner Tommy Chen on Friday won the men’s division of the 230km For Rangers Ultra in Kenya.
Chen completed the five-day race, which started at 8am on Monday, with a time of 21 hours, 18 minutes.
Chen documented his experiences from the race on Facebook with posts about his progress and the challenges the runners faced.
Photo: CNA
The athletes not only faced a changing climate, high altitudes and diverse terrain, but many sections of the route required both hands and feet to traverse, he said.
Part of the course was through a wildlife reserve, where animals roamed freely, he wrote.
Athletes had to stay alert for possible encounters with lions, elephants, giraffes and other wildlife, he wrote.
Photo: CNA
At one point, three lions were 200m from him and two other runners, Chen said.
In addition to the environmental and climate challenges, Chen also experienced gastrointestinal discomfort after taking medication to ward off malaria before the race, which made it difficult for him to sleep, he said.
He even got lost on the fourth day and was forced to run an extra 2km, he said.
Chen won every stage, but on the fifth and final day, he fell behind American Ken Rideout and Russian Evgenii Ustyugov, only overtaking the pair in the final 8km of the ultramarathon.
Ustyugov finished second with a time of 21 hours, 28 minutes, while Rideout was third in 22 hours, 47 minutes.
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