Challenge your limits |
中国版“刀锋战士”潘俊帆 :生命的意义在于探索未知 |
www.i21st.cn |
BY wangxingwei from 21st Century Published 2020-11-06 |
A hundred potential risks were listed on the left side of his notebook. On the other side, there were 100 solutions, some of which were related to the use of his prosthetics. Pan Junfan, 40, knew what he had signed up for. “I do not challenge nature, but challenge myself in the natural environment,” Pan told China Daily. Pan’s challenge was originally the Ultra Gobi, a 400-kilometer nonstop, self-navigating race. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was canceled. Yet Pan contacted the race’s organizers and then undertook a solo challenge on Sept 9. Beginning from the “Mars Camp” in Qinghai province, the ultra extreme course was expanded to 513 km over sand dunes, dry valleys, stony plateaus and snowy mountains, finishing in Guazhou, Gansu province. The journey, as Pan described, is “eyes on heaven, feet in hell”. Apart from facing extreme temperatures and varied terrains, Pan, carrying the bare minimum of equipment he would need, also battled sleep deprivation, hypothermia and hallucinations during the journey. After running for 208 hours 35 minutes, Pan managed to cross the finish line in Guazhou on Sept 18. With his first 102 km clocking 26 hours and 3 minutes, he broke the record set by Spanish amputee athlete, Gorka Zubeldia Letamendia, in last year’s 101 km race that went from Italy to France. “I hope that by completing the challenge I can inspire people and tell them that life has limitless possibilities and not to stop trying,” Pan told China Daily. He has livestreamed his treks on the video-sharing platform TikTok, attracting over 35 million views. An internet user named Weixia commented that Pan has completed something impossible for most people and proved that life is too short to hesitate in following one’s dreams. Pan has been challenging himself since he lost his right leg in a car accident in 2015. Since then, he has been searching for meaning in his life. With intensive training, Pan became China’s first amputee to complete the 108 km desert hike within four days in April 2016. In the three years since, he has accomplished a dozen or so firsts for below-the-knee amputees. Now, he is back and planning his next challenge – swimming and sailing across the Taiwan Straits. “Life’s meaning is to explore the unknown,” he told China Daily. Just as his favorite song, US musician Zayde Wolf’s Born Ready, goes: “I’m gonna push up higher / I’m gonna do what I do / I won’t shiver / I won’t shake / I’m made of stone/I don’t break.” (Translator & Editor: Wang Xingwei AND Luo Sitian)
https://www.i21st.cn/story/3605.html |