Marathon Man, whats the point?

Marathon Man, whats the point?, editors choice

Stefaan's story has been compared to Forrest Gump

Earlier this week I received a press release that told me a man from Belgium was running 365 marathons in 1 year. As Sport Editor for independent.co.uk I tend to receive quite a lot of these emails. Most move quicker to the trash bin than Usain Bolt moves over 100 metres but this once caught the eye.

At first I assumed there was a catch maybe they were mini-marathons, or perhaps he was the drugged up product of some scientific experiment that allowed him to complete such feats. But alas no, this guy is quite simply running 365 marathons (the 26 mile ones) every day for a year, and I couldnt find any mention of endurance enhancing drugs anywhere.

Thats impressive I thought. It makes Eddie Izzards 43 marathons in 51 days look like a fun-run. So I continued to read. I learnt that Stefaan Engels will go through 25 pairs of trainers, he sleeps 9-10 hours a night and he eats 6,000 kcals a day. The press release also informed me (for some reason) that hes 181cm tall. Very impressive.

But after the initial arousal of interest subsided I couldnt help but think: Why the hell do people do stuff like this?

Really, just whats the point? Apparently he wants to highlight healthy eating and prove you can achieve any goal. But surely not working for a year and eating double the daily recommended intake of kcals isnt the best way of doing it. Stefaan apparently wants to inspire people but inspire them for what exactly Im not sure. Perhaps he wants to inspire people to be work shy and spend their lives doing something completely pointless that contributes nothing to society and helps no-one? I probably would have preferred it if he was some drugged up experiment at least Stefaan would have contributed something to science. Maybe Im wro! ng and h ave taken this all a bit too seriously. You can find out about him here if you disagree with me and want to know more.

From his own personal point of view, hes clearly keen to set a world record. But why doesnt he just sit in a bath full of beans for ages theres probably a world record for that. A colleague of mine agreed with my viewpoint when he offered: This man is everything thats wrong with the world. Maybe a bit strong but I see where hes coming from.

Just before I dropped the press release into the trash bin, I noticed it pointed out that the story bears similarities to the film Forrest Gump. Thats the film where Tom Hanks plays a dim-witted individual. I suppose I can see the comparison.


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