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Robert Garside

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File:Robert Garside The Runningman arrives in USA.jpg
Robert Garside The Runningman arrives in the USA from Mexico, 2000.

Robert Garside "The Runningman", is a British adventurer credited by Guinness World Records as the first person to run around the world. Guinness World Records presented Garside with a certificate endorsing his run on 27 March 2007 in Piccadilly Circus, London, England. Garside was born in Cheshire, and studied psychology at Royal Holloway University between 1993 and 1995, when he planned to become the first person to run around the world.

World Record-breaking run

On 1 January 1996 James Gregory, the former prison warden and censor officer of Nelson Mandela and author of Goodbye Bafana, initiated the start of the first run around the world from outside parliament in Cape Town, South Africa.

Robert Garside ran north sleeping in police cells and quarters as a guest, living off milk, sugary maize and biltong, losing up to 2-3 kg during each run, until after just over 2,000 miles, when he abandoned his run in Northern Namibia. He had been heading towards a UNAVEM III camp in Angola with the intention of heading north to Kinshasha in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.)

Months later on 7 December 1996, Robert Garside re-started from Piccadilly Circus, London in a second attempt at an around-the-world run. He ran across England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland in wintertime, but abandoned the run before reaching Moscow, Russia because civil war had broken out south-east on his route, in Afghanistan.

In a final record bid, in the second half of 1997, Robert Garside re-started his run from beneath the majestic arches of India Gate, a monument situated on the Raj Path in New Delhi, India. It is a run that would extend for almost 6 years across 6 continents and 30,000 miles and that would earn him a place in sporting history.

Asia

Garside again slept in police stations and cells across northern India seeking the help and advice of Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal before running 5,300 metres up into the Himalayas in what CNN had reported as ‘the worst winter in 100 years’. He was accompanied by a Spaniard until Lhasa, who provided companionship through the 18,000-foot icy elevations. They stayed in monasteries, barns and in the snow in temperatures as low as minus 40C, drinking yak tea and burning yak dung to keep warm. Garside jogged for about eight hours a day, covering around 40 miles; he wore a specially converted pack and videoed every 15 minutes. Months later, Garside found celebrity in Chengdu, making front page news every day. He ran out of the city with a large crowd of students, crossing the Sichuan Province.

But by April 1998, Garside was arrested and imprisoned for thirty days in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, whilst an investigation was carried out. He faced up to two years in prison. The Consulate and a Buddhist friend secured his released after just five days. Gaol time was far from Garside's harshest experience. Along the way he was robbed, chased by secret police and thugs; threatened with an axe and pelted with stones by crowds. "Sometimes you get an instigator who gets the crowd on their side and tries to create trouble for me," he said. "I don't know why. I guess some people get suspicious of someone running down the street. Sometimes I had at least one punch-up every single day."

In Australia temperatures were over 40C and he spent most of his time with bush flies. Garside collapsed near Wirrulla, South Australia from heat exhaustion and was put into a warm bath of water by the police, to cool him down. That day the temperature had soared to 50C.

Americas

In Southern Argentina Garside wore an Australian flag to avoid potential problems but stayed with an ex-soldier who fought against the British in the Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands. Some nights he slept between sheep’s fleeces. In Comodoro Rivadavia Garside was temporarily detained and searched by police from the former Leopoldo Galtieri regime.

In Brazil, Robert Garside ran out of Rio de Janeiro and lost his way, forcing him to Mage, where “I slept in a brothel. I introduced myself and the girls laughed and wanted to kiss Mr. Runningman. The room I got was seedy and I wrapped myself in clothes to avoid touching the bed. It was humid, dark and mirrored,” he says.

After running across the Amazon rainforest into the new millennium, Garside arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, where he met student girlfriend Endrina Angarita Perez, whom he nicknamed "Runningwoman".

The Colombian Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) gave assurances to Garside of his security if he ran across Colombia, “because you are a sport man”, they stated, but weeks later Garside had to flee Northern Colombia, passing tanks and a blockaded border, after the Associated Press and a local police chief had warned him that a new tax was being levied near Rioacha which had drawn both FARC and the ELN into the area.

Shortly after, Garside was hijacked at gun point by two robbers in Panama, near the Bridge of the Americas. They stuck pistols into his stomach, but he survived and ran around active Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica to Nicaragua where he then met with former freedom fighters.

Robert Garside’s route continued through Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala through Mexico, where he outran three armed men near Acapulco, Mexico. It had been a “seat-off-the-pants effort” according to Garside’s agent, Mike Soulsby.

On 29 September 2000, whilst in the USA Robert Garside received an official commendation in the City of Huntington Beach, California from Dave Garofalo, Mayor of the City of Huntington Beach, California and the City Council. They honoured his “inspiring odyssey” by making 29 September "The Runningman Day". [citation needed]

Garside was accompanied by runners in California, and then skateboarders, who joined him across the Golden Gate Bridge and three states, including Nevada and Utah. Further east it became bitterly cold as he ran south of Chicago and through a blizzard in Virginia.

By March 2001, Garside passed through Philadelphia to Washington DC, then crossing the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, tracked by his support driver. They passed the World Trade Center (only six months before the September 11 terrorist attacks) before reaching the New York Supreme Court. His final arrival point was Times Square. He had originally planned to run up and down the Empire State Building and World Trade Center.

Africa and Europe and back to India

In Africa Robert Garside’s support driver had to be revived by Johannesburg paramedics near Soweto Township after she became overwhelmed by carbon monoxide fumes. They were helped by a casino in Johannesburg and Maputo, Mozambique.

The route through Mozambique stretched north, through areas where there were land mines and in some areas during the evenings he would stamp his feet to deter low-flying bats and black mamba snakes as he ran towards Malawi. The duo was assisted further north by tribes and Christian missionaries.

Alone again, Garside ran across southern Europe and Turkey passing the pyramids of Egypt and in Asmara, Eritrea he met with Muammar al-Gaddafi, who was on a state visit.

By Friday 13th June, 2003, after five years and eight months, Garside finished his global run back beneath the arches of India Gate

Controversy

Some leading figures in the ultra running community have questioned Robert Garside's achievements including ultra-distance runners who requested to join him for various legs of his run, as is often customary for verification purposes as well as companionship. Andy Jones-Wilkins, former 100-mile record holder, said "Long-distance runners usually ask people to run with them. Garside has gone to great lengths to avoid running with other runners, including me".[1] Also David Blaikie, who edited Ultramarathon World, was a constant critic of Garside during his run and repeatedly challenged him to demonstrate his claimed running performance in a verified ultra-distance event. Garside did eventually agree to a similar challenge in 2003 during an appearance on the Richard and Judy show but despite attempting to demonstrate a 130 mile run in a 24 hour event he managed only 72 miles.[2]

Blaikie, one time president of the Association of Canadian Ultramarathoners, said of Garside's claims "To imagine someone who has never run an ultra-marathon accomplishing such feats alone, while carrying a 7kg backpack, trying to locate food and safe water, taking video footage every few kilometres, collecting witness signatures, dodging traffic and negotiating border crossings speaks for itself. It's fantasy, and poor fantasy at that".[1] Similarly, Steven Seaton, publishing director and former editor of Runner's World magazine, said that "To do what Garside claims, to run some of those South American routes at altitude, in the jungle, on broken trails, on his own and with a rucksack - not a chance."[3]

On a number of occasions Garside was found to be elsewhere when he claimed to have been running. Garside himself has admitted to a number of fabrications in the logging of his runs, including one occasion where he was at home in England for 8 weeks during a period when he initially claimed to have covered 2,000 miles between Russia and India whilst dodging bandits and guerillas[4][1][5]. On another occasion when Garside claimed to have been running he was instead photographed relaxing on the beach in Rio 2,000km from where his diaries placed him.[3] Shortly after this he claimed to have run from Mexico City to the US border in a time which would have set a new distance running world record if true; however, it later emerged that he had taken a plane for 1,300km of the route.[6]

Nevertheless, after more than three years examining 15 boxes of credit card receipts, 300 time-coded tapes and making many random calls to independent witnesses, Guinness World Records certified the run in early 2007.[3] Guinness accepted that on occasion Garside had to temporarily leave his route, and that he either returned to his route, or picked up the route elsewhere, running an equivalent distance. For instance in Africa, after running from Cape Town to Mozambique, he realised he could not proceed further north along the coast of East Africa. He contacted Guinness and they agreed that he could fly to Rabat (Morocco) and run instead through Spain and Italy to Greece and Turkey.[3]

After the run

Robert Garside married Endrina Angarita Perez in London and, three-and-a-half years after the global run was completed Guinness World Records’ Head of Records, Marco Frigatti, presented Garside with a certificate endorsing his run as "the first fully-authenticated run around the world".[7]

Robert Garside said that if it wasn’t for his main benefactor, London photo agent Mike Soulsby, he would not have made it. He also said that a post 9/11 world had been more difficult to run through than a pre 9/11 world. "Patience, the gift of gab and lots of shoes helped”.

According to The Daily Telegraph in 2007 Robert Garside was in the process of writing a manuscript for a movie that he intends to produce about the first run around the world.

In late 2003 Robert Garside announced to the BBC and the Daily Mail that he intends to be the first person to swim around the world.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Doubts trip up runner's record claim". Retrieved 2009-07-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ "Garside fails to complete 130-mile challenge". Ultramarathon World (Archived). Retrieved 2009-07-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d "Did Robert Garside really run round the world or was it just a...long distance reception?". Daily Mail. 2 April 2007. Retrieved 2009-07-07. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ "CNNSI.com - SI Adventure - Where in the World Is Robert Garside?". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2009-07-07. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ "Running the world - or a flight of fancy?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-07-07. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference garside3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Guinness World of Records, The first fully-authenticated run around the world record has just been accepted

Media Coverage

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