'Running the Roof'
A drunken bet and a finger dropped on a spinning globe takes 3 runners on a trail run across Tajikistan, running across the roof of the world!
We're delighted to kick off the Trail and Error podcast with a great guest in the form of Cornish born Ultra Runner, Jodie Gauld!
Jodie joins Tris and Jay to talk about her adventures as part of the running team in the award winning adventure documentary film, 'Running the Roof'.
Like all good stories, this one begins with a drunken bet. Three friends, bonded by a love of running, were desperate to ditch their desks and go on an adventure. One night, after a few too many drinks, they placed a bet. They would spin a globe and wherever their finger landed, they would run. They spun. Tajikistan. Tajikistan!? A remote and small landlocked republic in central asia that few outsiders have heard of let alone travelled to. A place where the day time and night time temperatures vary by a body destroying 35 degrees. The air is so thin and lacking in oxygen that it feels like every single breath is a hammer blow to the chest, that's every breath, every day.. Perfect conditions for a mountain adventure, but for 3 runners who've mainly trained and lived at sea level?
“Each one of us was affected by the altitude...you felt ok but you just couldn't run, or breathe!”
Running from the the Tajik border with Afghanistan to the border of China, covering 400km in just 8, no wait make that 7 days - about a marathon a day, everyday, for a week. Running past the base of mountains 5 miles wide and across a plateau so far above sea level the locals call it ‘the roof of the world’. With no bar to measure themselves against, their drive was time. To complete their journey in time to catch the flight home. No room for error, or injury. No aid stations every 5 miles, no finishers medals. No guarantees they'd all come back. This film is a true adventure into the unknown.
Show Links
You can watch 'Running the Roof' on demand at Vimeo or with friends in a venue as part of the Trails In Motion 9 Film Tour:
See more of Jodie's adventures on Instagram here:
We spent literally minutes researching Tajikistan and it has a lot to offer including the world's second tallest flag pole...
Thankfully it also beautiful rugged mountains and a friendly population and of course Jodie, Gabe and JB just set an FKT for crossing the country on foot, so what are you waiting for??
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