Zach Englund
Sports Editor
Upon first meeting senior James Ross, he might appear as just an ordinary student — a little eccentric, perhaps, but still your every day, unpretentious individual. One would never guess that a regular guy like Ross would be attempting the remarkable, the extraordinary, the unthinkable.
On a whim, Ross and his father decided they would plan and train for the most intense experience of Ross’ life — running a marathon in Antarctica.
“He got an e-mail from his college roommate randomly,” Ross said. “His roommate said, ‘Hey, you want to run a marathon in Antarctica?’ And my dad goes, ‘That’s absolutely disgusting. Of course!’ So he e-mails him back and asks me, ‘Hey James, you want to run a marathon in Antarctica?’ ‘Um, yes!’
Having virtually no experience with distance running, Ross wasn’t exactly a world-class athlete attempting the daunting feat of running 26.2 miles in freezing conditions. Yet, that didn’t stop the high school senior from having the time of his young life.
“That was the best trip I’ve ever been on in my life, bar none,” Ross said, who was 18 years old at the time. “Antarctica’s gorgeous. I took a week or so off from high school, and it was fantastic. I hadn’t had any interest at all in this before, but it was an excuse to go to Antarctica.”
Shortly after returning to the states, Ross and his father pondered taking this journey of theirs a step further. Since Antarctica was out of the way, why not run marathons on all seven continents? Now, Ross has run marathons in Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and even the North Pole.
“It just sort of grew,” Ross said. “We ran in Washington, where I live, and then we decided to keep going. The second international crazy one was the North Pole, which was nuts. We went out there in this 60-year-old Russian plane. They had to parachute a bulldozer down to make the runway earlier that month. So, we landed on that and ran around a Russian base camp 16 times.”
Much preparation is taken before each marathon. But, Antarctica and the North Pole, in particular, were extremely difficult and required not only a lot of training, but a lot of clothing, he added.
“REI was great,” Ross said. “We sort of told them what we were doing, and they said, ‘Alright, try these,’ and handed us about $1,000 worth of clothing. We wore silk cloth underwear to keep from chaffing. Then, some heavier long underwear and snow pants. Then, on top there were two layers of long underwear, a fleece jacket and a heavy jacket I borrowed from the Russians. We also had two layers of socks, running shoes and snow shoes.”
Although Ross said frigid temperatures were very difficult to run in, each marathon presented challenges of its own. For South America, Ross’ dad wasn’t feeling up for the marathon, so Ross, his sister and a family friend ran the Peru-Inca trail, climbing Machu Picchu and feeling the air get thinner and thinner during the ascent. They started at 9,000 feet and went up to more than 15,000 feet.
“I had a coat, because I knew a little bit what to except, which was anywhere from 90 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit,” Ross said. “My sister had nothing, so she was freezing and was getting hypothermic. So, I gave her my coat, and we were fine … That ascent, with the possible exception of the North Pole marathon, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
For Ross, the drive behind these inter-continental marathons has little to do with the actual running. The thrill of adventure and becoming the youngest man to run on each continent, Ross said, is what excites him to no end.
“I love traveling,” he said. “I’ve been to every continent except Australia. Yes, I do enjoy the runs, but I wouldn’t do it just for the runs themselves. I’m not sure how young I have to be to be the youngest, but I’m betting if I wait till I’m 40 I’ll still be the youngest.”
The only countries Ross has left to conquer are Europe, Asia and Australia. Upon completion, he will achieve the title of “the marathon man who left no continent behind.”
Once he graduates, Ross said he plans to go backpacking in Europe with his friend, run a marathon there, and maybe even Asia.
“I’m going to see if Turkey counts as Asia,” he said.
10-02-2008