Posted on 12/17/2005 12:12:25 PM PST by blam
Mexican Indians preserve epic endurance race
By Tim Gaynor | December 15, 2005
CEROCAHUI, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's Tarahumara Indians are struggling to preserve one of the world's toughest endurance contests: a race of up to 100 miles over flinty mountain tracks while kicking a ball.
The tribe calls itself the "Raramuri," which in its language means "foot runner," and its men take to the trails of northwest Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains every few weeks in flimsy sandals for a 24-hour-long foot race that would make marathon runners shiver.
Their bizarre long-distance game, dubbed the "carrera de bola" or "ball race," is mostly run by men but shorter versions are also run by women and children.
Veteran competitors say it finds its origins in the ancestral hunt for deer, rabbits and wild turkeys over the pine-strewn peaks and plunging gorges of the remote highland area in Mexico's Chihuahua state.
"The elders used to run for two days to catch deer, chasing them until they dropped," whip-thin race veteran Santiago Carrillo, 54, said at his tiny farm near the mountain town of Cerocahui. "That's how you catch your opponents."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
"The elders used to run for two days to catch deer, chasing them until they dropped."
Of all the mammals, humans have the most endurance and can catch any animal if continuously pursued.
Article of interest - "Off the Beaten Path" ping!
A.A.C.
They must have some lung power.
"The elders used to run for two days to catch deer, chasing them until they dropped."
I am reminded of Remington's "Tale of the Dry Leaves".
In many cases the sandals are made of rubber from worn out tires shaped to the foot and held on with twine. These people are truly amazing and are totally shunned by the Mexican government.
I used to "hunt" rabbits that way years ago. Caught a couple pheasant that way too.
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Generations of living at altitude.
I've never done it with rabbits but I have with pheasants. They can be run into a corner and quickly stomped. Rabbits run, run, run...
Most any rabbit if you could keep it out in the open and keep it moving would be exhausted in about ten or fifteen minutes. Pheasants seemed to go about two or three miles before exhaustion.
No mention of coca leaves...?
Natural selection...it works.
The Story Of The Dry Leaves Harper's June 1899 (Frederic Remington)
I think the wolves and other canines are also coursing hunters, man and dogs being the only two in the world, to my uncertain knowledge.
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