bewegen

When some people get the bit between their teeth, there’s no putting them off. Take John Francis, who gave up speaking for 14 years in protest at the damage caused by oil spills. He said he just wanted to do it for one day but found that for the first time he was listening to what people were saying, and so he held his tongue.

The same cannot be said about Gentenaar Stefaan Engels because he knew before he started what he was letting himself in for. Stefaan is an experienced marathon and triathlon athlete in his 40s. On 1 January, he announced “Ik ga voor 365 marathons en u? I’m going for 365 marathons and you?” Well, he set off that day round the Watersportbaan in Ghent, which is a large recreation area. About four laps is 42 and a bit kilometres, a marathon.

He kept this up for a couple of weeks until he suffered a muscle injury. That was the end of that, you might think. But he astounded his supporters by saying: “Ik zet de teller op nul – I am putting the counter back to zero.”

When he hears himself described as zo zot als een achterdeur – as daft as a brush (“back door”), he agrees that people may be right. But who is the craziest: “ik of zij die elke avond voor de TV hangen? – me or them lounging in front of the TV every evening”? For variety’s sake, he runs at several locations to publicise his Feel Good Tour. He is also doing all official marathons in Belgium as well as the half marathons, which he does twice! On top of that, he is including some foreign runs around Europe.

And now in July, he’s still at it; he’ll have done more than 150 by the time you read this. In this heat, he does take on a lot of water: “Gemiddeld verbruik ik 20 liter per dag” and that’s just on average! Same with salt. Not surprisingly, Stefaan keeps out of the heat for the rest of the day: “Terrasjes doen na mijn marathon, zit er voorlopig niet in – sitting on café terraces isn’t possible for the moment”.

What drives him? Well, in his own words, as an asthmatic kid he was continually told by his father that he could do nothing. Stefaan wants others to believe that they can achieve: “Ik wil mensen aanzetten tot bewegen – I want to encourage people to move.”

All this requires planning, which Stefaan organises through his company Phidippides NV, named after the messenger who brought the news of the Battle of Marathon to Athens. Unlike his predecessor, Stefaan doesn’t look like dropping yet.

www.marathonman365.be

(July 14, 2010)