PER’S STORY
IAU Newsletter Summer Edition 1991
We had two 24 hour events in Norway in 1990, both outstanding, each in its own way. Both events had two things in common, they were solo runs and they took place on a track. Apart from this they were very different indeed.
On June 4th, 57 year old Torleif Rekkeboi, who in July 1989 had run the 541 kms from Trondheim to Oslo in 3 days 8 hours, ran a marathon in 2.55. Three days later he ran a five miler in 30.30. The next evening he covered a half marathon in 1.20,04, got into a car and drove some 200 miles during the night to participate in the famous Mountain Marathon. He got just one hour of sleep and finished the,marathon in 3.06.
The following Saturday he again ran a marathon, this time in 2.50.31. Three days later he finished another evening marathon in his home town of Trondheim in 2.51.05.
One would think that this series of remarkable performances should have killed any normally equiped runner, but for this training maniac- he runs between an hour and one and a half hours every morning and between two and two and a half hours every afternoon,besides competing every weekend- this was just a warm-up for his 24 hours event which took off at 19.45 on June 21st , on the stadium of Norway’s leading soccer team.
Rekkebo was running very evenly. He went through the first marathon in 3.29.05, the first 100km in 8.55.23 and 100 miles in 15.08.59 before he started to slow somewhat down.During the last few miles he was enthusiastically cheered by approximately 20,000 soccer fans on the terraces, waiting for the kick-off of a first division league match at 20.00 hours. How many of these soccer fans who became ultra-distance fans is hard to say , but I doubt whether any ultra-runner has had an attendance like this in this century?
Well anyway ,Torleif Rekkebo had covered 240.646 kms when the 24 hours were at an end, a brilliant new national record, and probably one of the best performances in the world in his age group. On the following Sunday he jogged through 20kms in 1.22 just to show that the “oldie” hadn’t lost his kick!
The other 24 hours event is a story with a perspective far beyond the realm of just sport.It is a story of fighting spirit, a story of courage, a story of love….
Oddbjorn was knocked down, but not knocked out! When he heard the terrible news of his young friend’s death , he promised to do something for other cancerstricken children- he wanted to collect money to give cancersuffering kids an opportunity to travel, to have some fun, to enjoy -as far as possible- their life!
But how could he get any money? Then the idea struck him: He would run a charity 24 hours event in his home town, Kristiansund, hoping that the young people of the town would be willing to pay for each lap he was going to cover. He promised to run 500 laps, or 200kms- in itself not a world class performance, if considered from the experienced top level runner’s point of view, but a formidable and frightening task for a man who had never run beyond the magic marathon distance.
He got some good and reasonable advice from an experienced ultra runner friend , but a good advice is after all nothing more than-just a good advice! The real thing is something quite different which our hero was to find out in the most dramatical way!
He started his lonely run at 18.30 hours on Thursday the 25th of October on a very icy and slippy track. Weather conditions were far from favourable, a cold rain, a chilly wind and fog prevailing.
Oddbjorn took off optimistically as first-timers usually do, keeping an even, just below 5min/km pace. The first marathon was covered in 3.20.32, but already at this point he began to realize the sheer madness of the obligation he had placed on his shoulders. People on the track-and there were people there all the time -could not see him across the track, owing to the dense fog. The icy surface made his running difficult , forcing him to change his ordinary gait, which in the end, probably was the cause of the serious injury he gradually and hardly noticeably developed.The humid weather made his clothing wet and cold, and he was compelled to change more often than he had planned to.
lOOkms was reached in 8.39.36-an outright unbelievable feat under the prevailing conditions! Any athlete capable of running lOOkms in 8.39-on a good day-is justified in considering herself/himself an outstanding ultrarunner. And here we have this man runnin,s.
under conditions no sensible man would care to leave his house in, much less consider trying to run 500 laps on an ice-covered , wind exposed track.And why was he doing this?
For Oddbjorn Lomunddall this race had become a battle of survival, a battle of honour, a battle of mind over matter! He was already suffering, his aching body-which was not prepared for this-wanted to give up, but deep down in his mind, in the area where the frontier between conciousness and unconciousness is hardly discernible, he seemed to hear a voice urging him on: “Come on, cfome on, think of little Sigbjorn!”
And the mere thought of his little friend , who had so courageously fought against his merciless destiny , gave the exhausted runner the will to continue this uneven match, where all the odds were so definately against him! All odds but one, his undefeatable will to fulfill his obligation!
So, on he goes, defying the pain, the tiredness, the suffering. At 3 o’clock in the morning something quite unexpected happens. The vocalist of one of the most popular bands in the country” Dance with a stranger”, Oyvind Elgenes, arrives at the stadium. Without the support of his band , he performs the song “Keep on Running” to honour the hero of the night….
The 38 year old Oddbjorn Lomunddal has been running marathon for years, and has a personal best of 2.25. But he has never tried running an ultra. He is a practising physiotherapist, and in this capacity he met the 11 year old Sigbjorn in the Spring of 1990. The little boy was cancerstricken and no treatment seemed to lessen his pain and suffering. Then he came to Oddbjorn to get some physiotherapy , and the two sportsloving “boys” soon found themselves on the same wavelength. The young Sigbjorn confided his hopes and dreams to his adult friend- he wanted to travel, he wanted to run and play, he wanted above all, to be strong and healthy! The runner and physiotherapist was deeply moved by his little patient , and did everything possible to help him, trying to save his tiny life. But the vicious and evil disease was not to be stopped , and two weeks after celebrating his 12th birthday, Sigbjorn died peacefully at his home.
And on he goes, doggedly, stubbornly.
An old injury in his left leg returns, and the pain he has felt up to this point is just peanits to what he will be going through during the last part of this incredible -run. Fortunately, he did not know what expected him. The doctor who was present during the run , told him to stop, but understanding that Oddbjorn had no intention whatsoever to consent to this very reasonable advice, he gave the tenacious runner a pain-killing injection. It did not help, but still Oddbjorn refused to retire. He just told his handlers and the medician that his little friend had suffered the hell of a lot more than any runner ever would suffer during any race- and returned to the track.
When he no longer was able to move his left leg, he asked that an elastic string was tied around his left thigh. In this way he could pull his leg forward by using his hands. He could no longer run, but somehow he managed to keep moving. He was, however, forced to take breaks at intervals , partly to relieve his injured leg, partly to put on dry clothes.
He kept his solemn promise. 500 laps was reached with just two minutes to go, and about 400 supporters on the track gave him the really big hand. They had been there all through the run, school children who had collected money to buy 90 laps, friends and collegues, workers, athletes of different sports- and the sisters and mother of his little friend, Sigbjorn, whose illness and death had made a top” trained runner to look at his running from a new and different angle.
200kms is not a world class performance, it is not even a national record. Bit those 500 laps run by Oddbjorn Lomunddal at the end of a cold and wet October represent more than 500,000 kroner, or the equivalent of about £45,000. And not even the best ultra runners in the world have ever won prize money like that.
Oddbjorn Lomunddal is one of those fortunate people that are healthy and able to play and run. He is grateful for that, so grateful, actually, that he was willing to gamble his legs and health to help some of those less fortunate than himself.
In his home town there are lots of people who admire his legs of steel, and love his heart of gold!
Per Lind To so
Jevnaker Norway.
Tags: Europe, Norway, Ultrarunning
