Taiwan’s Tommy Chen fights through excruciating foot sores to take the lead in Bhutan ultramarathon
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/31
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese ultramarathon runner Tommy Chen (陳彥博) won
Chen shows his badly mangled feet. (Photo from Tommy Chen FB page)
Stage 4 of six in the ultramarathon “Bhutan The Last Secret 200km 2018,” but in the process he had to battle though horrific blisters on his heels, which have become excruciatingly painful.
At 7:27 p.m. last night (May 30) a post appeared on Chen’s Facebook page announcing that Chen had taken first place in Stage 4 with a time of 4:31:18, while in second place was Guillaume Degoulet of France at 4:49:39 and third place was taken Alan Zaugy, also of France, at 4:57:41.
At the beginning of Stage 4, Chen said that he was already feeling the affects of the altitude and fatigue, but in order to ensure a high ranking, he felt compelled to catch up with the main group. When he reached the second checkpoint, Chen began to feel the heels of his feet starting to sting with “every step feeling like stepping on needles.”
Fearing that if he stopped, the gap between him and lead pack would widen, he pressed on. Despite feeling such intense pain that he “wanted to scream out loud,” he kept running at a full sprint. [FULL STORY]
