Marathons of Life

 

Every year, thousands of seasoned runners from all over the world gather in Australia to take part in one of the most difficult ultra-marathons on the planet. As the name suggests, the Westfield Sydney-Melbourne Ultra Marathon has competitors running from Sydney to Melbourne, a distance of 543.7-miles (875 kilometers). The first man to win this endurance race remains its most famous participant to date – a 61-year-old potato farmer who ran the whole thing wearing overalls and work boots and beat the runner up by 10 hours. When Cliff Young showed up at the starting line for the inaugural edition of the Westfield Sydney-Melbourne Ultra Marathon in 1983, he stuck out like a sore thumb. While all the other participants wore professional running equipment, Young was dressed like he was ready to plow a field. Wearing his everyday farmer’s clothes and the running tag displayed on the back of his shirt, he quickly attracted the attention of reporters present on the scene. “I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep,” Cliff casually told reporters. “We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d always catch them. I believe I can run this race.”

No one actually believed him, and who could blame them? All the other competitors were in their 20s and early 30s, with years of training and marathon experience under their belts, and here was this 61-year-old man dressed like he had just come from the field, claiming that he was going to finish an 875-kilometer ultra-marathon.

He ran at a slow and loping pace and trailed the pack by a large margin at the end of the first day. While the other competitors stopped to sleep for six hours, Young kept running. He ran continuously for five days, taking the lead during the first night and eventually winning by 10 hours. He said afterwards that during the race he imagined he was running after sheep trying to outrun a storm. The Westfield run took him five days, fifteen hours, and four minutes, almost two days faster than the previous record for any run between Sydney and Melbourne, at an average speed of 6.5 kilometers per hour (4.0 mph). All six competitors who finished the race broke the old record. Upon being awarded the prize of A$10,000 (equivalent to $36,011 USD in 2022), Young said that he did not know there was a prize and that he felt bad accepting it, as each of the other five runners who finished had worked as hard as he did—so he split the money equally between them, keeping none.

[1 Corinthians 9:24-27] “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we (Christians) for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

It has always amazed me to see the resilience of the American labor community. No matter what the atmosphere or the circumstances of the political, social, and/or financial environments are, the economy remains lucrative because of the unfailing workforce behind it. Since this country was founded, even before our Constitutional government was formed, a marathon of sharing goods for labor has existed. It’s what has made America and American’s the envy of the world. Now is the time to defend our strength which comes from God by faithfully standing for the principles and the truths found in God’s Word.