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The Spartathlon 斯巴达超级马拉松 The lunacy of the long-distance runner 长跑运动员的疯狂 Vomit, bleeding nipples and hallucinations. Why would anyone in their right mind run the Spartathlon? 呕吐、乳头出血以及幻觉。为什么会有精神正常的人想要跑斯巴达超马？ Dec 22nd 2012 | ATHENS AND SPARTI | from the print edition of The Economist 译者：nayilus THE Parthenon is lit, but Athens is still dark. In the gloom, a cleaner is sweeping the pedestrianised road that runs beneath the southern slope of the Acropolis. And in the trees beside the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient stone theatre, Lycra-clad figures are urinating everywhere. 帕泰农神殿点起了灯光，但整个雅典还在睡眠之中。四周一片昏暗，一个清洁工正在清扫雅典卫城南坡之下的人行道。在海罗德·阿得库斯露天剧场旁的树丛里，到处都是身穿氨纶运动服、正在撒尿的运动员。 These are the last few minutes before the start of the Spartathlon, one of the world’s toughest ultra-marathons. The 310 runners in this year’s race are doing their final stretches. Energy supplements are being taken; running belts are being checked; caps with neck flaps to protect against the sun are being adjusted. Many athletes have a crew to support them during the race; there is time for some final words of encouragement before the runners edge towards the starting line. 这是斯巴达超马开始前的最后几分钟。该赛事是世界上最艰难的超级马拉松（简称超马）之一。今年参赛的310名跑者正在做最后的伸展运动。他们正在吞服能量补品、检查腰带、调整防日晒的遮脖帽。很多参赛选手都有在赛程中提供支持的团队。在选手纷纷走向起跑线之前还有时间对他们说两句最后的鼓励之词。 At 7am precisely, as dawn approaches, the race begins. The field strings round the Acropolis and past the agora, the heart of ancient Athenian life, before heading into the early-morning traffic. The pace is gentle: an average runner can keep up for the first kilometre easily. But this race is about distance, not speed. After that first kilometre, another and another and another lie ahead. Everyone in the field has completed at least a 100km (62-mile) race. For this event, they will have to run 245km (or almost six consecutive marathons) within 36 hours. Only 72 of them will end up making it all the way to historical Sparta. 在早上7点整，随着黎明的降临，比赛开始了。比赛路线绕卫城一周，通过雅典阿哥拉这一古代雅典生活的中心，然后就和清晨的雅典交通一起踏上道路。跑者们的步伐并不快：普通的跑者在首一公里内要跟上他们不是什么难事。但是这项赛事的关键不在于速度，而是距离。在跑完第一公里之后，一个个公里会接踵而来。参赛的所有选手都曾经跑完过至少100公里（62英里）的赛事。在这项赛事里，他们需要在36小时内跑完245公里。最后成功抵达古代斯巴达地区的选手只有72名。 This year’s Spartathlon, which took place in late September, was the 30th. Its heritage goes back much further. The most famous ultra-marathon in history was that run by Pheidippides, an Athenian who made the journey to Sparta in 490BC. His mission was to ask the Spartans for their help in fighting the invading Persians; Herodotus, a historian, records that he reached Sparta on the day after he left Athens. (The Spartans were celebrating a religious festival, so could not offer help until after the Athenians had dispatched the Persians at the battle of Marathon.) 今年9月底举行的斯巴达超马是第30届。但是其历史传承则要古老的多。历史上最著名的超马跑者是雅典人菲迪皮得斯（Pheidippides），他在公元前490年完成这一长跑来到斯巴达，目的是为了请求斯巴达人发动援军抵抗入侵的波斯大军。历史学家希罗多德（Herodotus）在书中记录了菲迪皮得斯离开雅典后第二天就抵达了斯巴达。不过斯巴达人当时正在庆祝一个宗教节日，因此无法及时派兵，等到他们派出军队时，雅典人已经在马拉松战役里击败了波斯大军。 Herodotus did not appear particularly taken by Pheidippides’s feat of endurance. Since his “Histories” also includes tales of ants bigger than foxes, it probably seemed rather unimpressive. But in 1982 his terse description sparked the interest of a British air-force officer and long-distance runner called John Foden, who wondered if it really was possible to run from Athens to Sparta and arrive the next day. With four other officers, Mr Foden decided to see for himself; after 36 hours’ slog they arrived in Sparti, as the town is now called. 希罗多德对于菲迪皮得斯的长跑壮举并未表示特别的惊讶。考虑到他所著的《历史》一书中也包括比狐狸还要大的蚂蚁这一类故事，他对这项成就无动于衷也许是可以理解的。但是1982年一位英国空军军官兼长跑运动员约翰·佛登（John Foden）对希罗多德简短的描述产生了兴趣。他开始考虑一个问题：从雅典开始跑，第二天就到达斯巴达究竟可不可能？佛登和其他四位军官一起决定亲自验证这一点，在36小时的艰难之旅后，他们终于抵达了现代的斯巴达镇。 Racing through history 穿越历史的长跑 That achievement inspired the organisation of the first Spartathlon a year later; the race now ranks as one of the world’s classic ultra-marathons. The Spartathlon’s allure has two sources. The first is the difficulty of finishing it. Any race that is longer than a marathon can call itself an ultra-marathon, but no self-respecting ultrarunner gets excited about finishing, say, a 48km course. The most talked-about events in the calendar are the ones that look most incomprehensible to the average person. 这项成就促成了一年后举办的第一届斯巴达超马赛事。现在其已是全世界超马比赛中的经典赛事之一。斯巴达超马的吸引力有两个原因。首先，跑完该赛事是非常困难的。任何长度超过马拉松的赛事都可以被称为是超马。但是任何有自尊心的超长距离跑者对于跑完像是48公里这样的赛事都不会感到兴奋。每年他们讨论最多的是那些普通人完全无法理解的赛事。 Take the Barkley. This 161km trail race in Tennessee forces runners to makes climbs and descents of 18,000 metres each inside 60 hours. The Barkley has been going since 1986, and in that period only 13 people have managed to finish the course within the cut-off time. Badwater is another race that derives kudos from insanity. The 217km course in California runs from Death Valley to Mount Whitney in temperatures of 50°C and above. (“Nudity is specifically not allowed,” say the rules.) 例如巴克利超马，这项在美国田纳西州举行的161公里赛事要求参赛者在60小时内跑完，其中包括长达18公里的上坡和18公里的下坡。巴克利超马从1986年开始举行，至今只有13人曾在规定时间内跑完全程。恶水超马是另一项因为疯狂而名气大增的赛事。这项美国加州赛事长达217公里，在50摄氏度以上的高温里选手们必须从死谷一路跑到惠特利峰。（大赛规则中写道：“特别注意－选手禁止裸体”） The Spartathlon cannot claim such extremes. It is not the hilliest race, nor the hottest. But it combines lots of different tests. There is the heat of the Greek day, then the plunge in temperatures when darkness falls. There are climbs, too: the route includes a series of ascents, among them a 1,200-metre mountain pass negotiated in the dead of night. Above all, there is the relentless pressure of the clock. 斯巴达超马并不具有这些极端因素。它既不是最崎岖的，也不是最炎热的。但是这项赛事把很多不同的考验融合在一起。希腊地区白天格外炎热，而天黑后气温又开始急降。赛程中也包含坡度：比赛路线会经过一系列上坡路段，包括在深夜要爬上一座海拔1200米的山口。在所有这些因素之上更有时间对跑者施加着无情的压力。 Badwater gives competitors 48 hours to finish; the Spartathlon gives them 12 hours fewer to run 27km more. A series of 75 checkpoints ram home the pressure: if a runner is not at a checkpoint by a specified time, he is pulled out of the race. That explains why many Spartathletes mock the Marathon des Sables (MdS), a six-day, 250km run through the Sahara that has a much higher profile and also vies for the title of the world’s toughest foot race. The MdS allows for fripperies such as sleep. “A trekking holiday” is how one veteran of both dismisses it. 恶水超马给参赛者48小时跑完全程。斯巴达超马比恶水超马长27公里，给选手的时间却要少整整12个小时。一路上还有75道关卡向选手施压：选手如果抵达某一关卡所用时间超过规定，就必须退出比赛。这解释了为什么很多斯巴达超马跑者对于撒哈拉马拉松（MdS）嗤之以鼻。该赛事的知名度要比斯巴达超马高得多，而且其同样也在角逐最艰难的长跑赛事这一殊荣。撒哈拉马拉松历时6天，全程通过撒哈拉沙漠，总长250公里，其间包括让选手可以睡觉休息这样的“花俏玩意”。一位两项赛事都曾跑过的老将把撒哈拉马拉松称为一次“假日远足”。 If the athletic demands of the race explain some of its prestige, a second reason is its heritage. Never mind that the first stages take the runners through a grim industrial estate outside Athens: the idea of retracing Pheidippides’s footsteps still grips many participants. “It feels like racing in history, passing through places where history began,” says Ivan Cudin, an Italian who won in 2010 and 2011. 如果说这项赛事对参加者身体素质的要求是其地位崇高的原因之一，那么另一个原因要数其历史传承。虽然赛程最初几段路会穿过雅典市郊阴森森的工业区，但是追随菲迪皮得斯的脚步对很多参赛者来说还是有着特殊的吸引力。2010年和2011年赢得冠军的意大利人伊凡·库丁（Ivan Cudin）说：“感觉上就好像是在历史里赛跑，沿途经过历史起源的地方。” 因此，斯巴达超马可说是一项宏伟传统的低调实例，是对古典希腊入迷的外国访客的盛事。19世纪20年代西方对希腊独立战争的支持就是基于现代希腊是古代希腊的传承这一亲希腊思想之上的。希腊之所以能够加入欧盟和欧元区很大程度上也是因为“没有民主摇篮的欧洲不是完整的欧洲”这一思想。1979年当希腊签订加入欧洲共同体协议时，法国总统瓦勒里·吉斯卡尔·德斯坦（Valéry Giscard d’Estaing）曾说过：“没有希腊的欧洲就不能算是欧洲。欧洲文化在希腊达到了最具活力的表达并获得了其有关均衡和美的绝妙感觉。” A glorious past, especially one heroised so relentlessly by the rest of the world, can be a burden, says Nikos Dimou, the author of a book of aphorisms called “The Unhappiness of Being Greek”, which was published in Greece itself in 1975, has subsequently become a big seller in Germany, and will appear in English in 2013. One of his pertinent reflections runs: 尼科斯·迪默（Nikos Dimou）曾著有《身为希腊人的不幸》一书。该书在1975年于希腊出版，后来又在德国大卖，2013年其英译本将会问世。他认为一段辉煌的过去，尤其是被世界其它地方所极力推崇的过去有时会是一种负担。他有一句反思尤为一语中的： 'Any race believing itself to be descended from the ancient Greeks would be automatically unhappy. Unless it could either forget them or surpass them.' “一个种族如果相信自己是古希腊人的直系后代，那除非他能遗忘或是超越过去，不然其将自动陷身于不幸之中。”
The Spartathlon feels like a largely uncomplicated homage. But the gap between troubled modernity and shining antiquity still gapes uncomfortably at times. The stinging of tear gas in Syntagma Square two nights before this year’s race began was one reminder of Greece’s current problems. And when the citizens of Sparti stood to hear the national anthem of the winner, there was an awful inevitability to the sound of the Deutschlandlied. 斯巴达超马作为一项怀古盛事感觉上并没有掺杂太多的复杂情绪。但是倍受困扰的现代状况和闪耀发光的古代故事之间存在的巨大鸿沟依然时不时显露出来，给人以不适的感觉。今年的斯巴达超马起跑两晚前在雅典宪法广场残留的催泪气体刺眼的感觉依然提醒人们希腊现在面临的问题。而当斯巴达市的市民倾听冠军选手国歌时，播放的是《德意志之歌》也带来一种糟糕的命中注定感。 From the start, the pressure of the clock leads to some bad decisions. The goal of many in the Spartathlon is to build up a comfortable time buffer in the first part of the race, which they can gradually run down when the going gets tough in the later stages. A reasonable plan, as long as you don’t go too fast too early. 从一开始，时间压力就造成一些选手做出错误决定。很多斯巴达超马选手的目标是在第一段赛程内累积舒适的时间盈余，这样在之后赛程变得艰难时他们就可以慢慢使用这些盈余。这是一个很明智的计划，前提是你不能太早提速过快。 在今年的赛事里，希腊的天气意味着除了坐在树荫下不动，任何速度都可以说是过快了。希腊9月尾通常气温都不低，但是今年的温度比往年还要更高。沥青路和路边岩石表面散发出来的热量进一步让空气升温。在这样的状况下中暑和脱水是两个很明显的问题，但大量饮水并不一定是正解。很多选手发现自己无法把食物和饮料保持在胃中：通往斯巴达的道路上布满了选手的呕吐物。饮水过量会使体内多余的水分稀释血液中的钠含量，使选手容易陷入一种称为低钠血症的状况。这等于是从体内发生的溺水。 The heat caused a very high early drop-out rate. Many people were timed out before the first major checkpoint, after 80km. Those whose race ends prematurely are collected by a bus (nicknamed “the death bus”) which slowly makes its way to Sparti, stopping to pick up more non-finishers and occasionally to let off its passengers to throw up. 高温让大量选手在赛程初期纷纷退出。在距起点80公里处的第一个主要关卡有很多选手因为超时而失去资格。那些未跑完全程就退出比赛的选手会被接到一辆巴士（人们称其为“死亡巴士”）上。该车慢悠悠地驶向终点斯巴达，沿途不断停车将更多的退赛选手接上车，偶尔也停下来让车上乘客可以下车呕吐。 The survivors run on, across the Isthmus of Corinth and into the Peloponnese. At ancient Corinth, 93km from Athens and barely more than a third of the way into the race, athletes sporadically arrive at another checkpoint. 幸存者继续向前奔跑，穿越科林斯地峡，进入伯罗奔尼撒半岛。在距雅典93公里的柯林斯古城，选手们陆续抵达另一个关卡。他们才刚刚跑完全程的三分之一。 All pain and no gain 满是痛苦，毫无收获 The drama lies not in the competition between them but in their personal struggles. Many douse themselves repeatedly in cold water. Some briefly rest, grimacing as they rise to their feet again. One disoriented Japanese runner heads off in the wrong direction, and needs to be overhauled and turned around. James Adams, a British runner, arrives after about ten hours on the road, a great muddy stain of blood on his shirt, courtesy of unlubricated nipples. A couple of tourists sit in a nearby taverna watching the runners head off again. “Isn’t it amazing?” says one. “Or stupid,” responds the other. Her scepticism is understandable. Come and get them The statue stands at the end of Sparti’s main street. A crowd gathers around Leonidas early on the morning of the second day, staying put until the final cut-off at 7pm. When the runners descend into Sparti they are met on the fringes by a posse of local children on bicycles, who first clap them past and then cycle behind them on their final loop through the town. People in pavement cafés, many of them participants who have been ferried to Sparti on the death bus, rise and applaud as each competitor shuffles past.
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