Blade runner chases the sun
After losing a leg in a car crash, Pan Junfan decided to run and hasn’t stopped, reports.
He had run for 208 hours 35 minutes, the equivalent of more than eight days. So, when Pan Junfan managed to cross the finish line in Guazhou, Gansu province, on Sept 18, the tears began to flow. Not tears of exhaustion, not tears of frustration, but tears of pride and achievement.
The 513 kilometers he had completed over rugged terrain in northwestern China would challenge the greatest athletes in the world. The challenge was all the greater for Pan, who pulled off the remarkable feat after having part of his right leg amputated following a car accident a few years ago.
During the grueling challenge through the Gobi Desert and the Altun Mountains, the 40-year-old faced temperatures ranging from -20 C at night to 30 C by day, wild animals and even a tornado. About 400 km of the trail is uninhabited.
“I hope that by completing the challenge I can inspire people and tell them that life has limitless possibilities and to not stop trying,” Pan says.
Pan called the challenge Chasing the Sun, which indicates that running keeps him from darkness. Under his online username Dujiaopan, he has livestreamed his treks on video-sharing platform Douyin, attracting an audience of over 35 million.
A user named Weixia comments that Pan has completed something impossible for most people and proved that life is too short to hesitate in following one’s dreams. Another user comments: “You change my definition about bravery and strength.”
Pushing boundaries of extreme endurance, Pan’s challenge was originally the Ultra Gobi, which is considered a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many marathon runners. Unfortunately, however, the 400 km, nonstop, self-navigating race was canceled due to the ongoing COVID19 crisis. After careful consideration and a reconnaissance field trip, Pan contacted the race’s organizers and they agreed to reschedule the route and allow him to undertake a solo challenge on Sept 9.
Carrying a backpack containing the bare minimum of equipment he would need, Pan battled sleep deprivation, hypothermia and hallucinations during the journey. He could get supplies — food, prosthesis, spare shoes — at the rest stations, which were staffed with support personnel.
Beginning from the “Mars Camp” in Qinghai province, the ultra extreme course was expanded to more than 500 km over sand dunes, dry valleys, stony plateaus and snowy mountains, finishing in Guazhou. Pan describes the journey as “eyes on heaven, feet in hell”.
To deal with the potential dangers, Pan listed 100 risks and solutions before the race. About 24 of them were related to the use of prosthetics, such as possible abrasion and swelling of his limb. During the challenge, he encountered 40 of the risks he listed. He prepared three carbon-fiber prosthetics, one for walking, one for jogging and another for synthetic training.
On the first day, his leg was blistered and its skin was peeling after running for 46 km. The leg was swollen and caused problems with his prosthesis, which he found difficult to get on. In pain, Pan changed it at a rest station.
With just 15 minutes’ rest, Pan clocked 26 hours and 3 minutes for his first 102 km, breaking the record set by Spanish amputee athlete, Gorka Zubeldia Letamendia, in last year’s Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc — a grueling 101 km race that goes from Italy to France.
An accidental realization
He can still remember it. The car veering out of control. The sound of metal being ripped as the vehicle crashed into the guardrail on a Shanghai street in the spring of 2015. Before the accident he owned an exhibition company that was suffering difficulties and he had been working for two nights without sleep. The guardrail that punctured the car was driven into his right leg like a stake, and he lost consciousness before the ambulance arrived. When he woke up, his lower right leg was gone. The accident was a catastrophic blow to Pan and his family. It marked a turning point.
Pan was bedridden for three months, he says. “During this period, I kept asking myself three questions: Was I satisfied with my life before the accident? If there is a second chance, will I reset my life? If it is time to start over, what should I do?”
When a friend invited him to hike in the Gobi Desert in 2016, Pan knew the answer to his third question.
After he read about South African double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius, he was confident that one day he would not just stand up once more, but would run. He set himself the goal of one day breaking the world record for the longest distance race run by an amputee athlete.
His first target was the 108 km hiking challenge in Dunhuang Gobi Desert one year later.
But adjusting to a prosthesis took longer, and was harder, than he first thought.
In the beginning, he could hardly bear the intense pain caused by the friction between his leg and the prosthesis. He stumbled countless times. When taking a shower, he had to remove his prosthesis and crawl into the bathroom to avoid falling.
When the pain seemed unbearable, he simply recalled the day of the accident.
To realize his hiking goal, Pan formulated a comprehensive training plan, based on the methods applied by track-and-field athletes.
In April 2016, he became China’s first amputee to complete the 108 km desert hike within the given time — four days.
Following the desert race, he established a dozen or so firsts for below-the-knee amputees. These included completing the 2018 Ironman 70.3 Xiamen’s 113 km triathlon in 7 hours 26 minutes, finishing the Gangshika Xtrial’s 100 km race in 27 hours and 40 minutes, and successfully conquering the Ironman Western Australia in 2019, which involves swimming for 3.8 km, cycling for 180 km and running for 42.2 km. As a result he has been dubbed “the Chinese blade runner” and his autobiography was published in May 2019.
“My experience proves that everyone can run a little further than they think,” Pan says.
Pan is already back on the running machine, preparing for his next challenge — swimming and sailing across the Taiwan Straits.
“It is still in the feasibility study stage, because swimming across the 130 km Straits is physically impossible. I have been consulting experts to explore its practicality,” Pan says.
“I do not challenge nature, but challenge myself in the natural environment,” Pan says, adding that respect for nature and risk management are very important for extreme sports athletes.
“Life’s meaning is to explore the unknown,” he claims.
Just as his favorite song, Zayde Wolf ’s Born Ready, goes: “I’m gonna push up higher/ I’m gonna do what I do/ I won’t shiver/ I won’t shake/ I’m made of stone/ I don’t break.”
Wang Qian