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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2005 
Mexican Indians Preserve Epic Endurance Race
 Tim Gaynor - Reuters
Cerocahui, Mexico - Mexico's Tarahumara Indians are struggling to preserve one of the world's toughest endurance contests: a race of up to 100 miles over flinty mountain tracks while kicking a ball.
The tribe calls itself the "Raramuri," which in its language means "foot runner," and its men take to the trails of northwest Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains every few weeks in flimsy sandals for a 24-hour-long foot race that would make marathon runners shiver.
Their bizarre long-distance game, dubbed the "carrera de bola" or "ball race," is mostly run by men but shorter versions are also run by women and children.
Veteran competitors say it finds its origins in the ancestral hunt for deer, rabbits and wild turkeys over the pine-strewn peaks and plunging gorges of the remote highland area in Mexico's Chihuahua state.
"The elders used to run for two days to catch deer, chasing them until they dropped," whip-thin race veteran Santiago Carrillo, 54, said at his tiny farm near the mountain town of Cerocahui. "That's how you catch your opponents."
Teams of up to 10 racers from rival villages compete running as many as 20 laps of a 5-mile (8-km) course marked out with sticks or stones. The winner is the team that makes it to the end first, or runs their opponents into submission.
"The race lasts a day and a night," says Carrillo, taking a break from harvesting beans at his highland spread. "You just grab a pine torch in the dark and run on hoping that the smoke won't get in your eyes."
Sandals And Sorcery
Anthropologists say the races serve to bring together tribal members scattered across the sierra in remote log cabin villages and caves hewn from the rock walls of the area's extensive system of canyons.
Eschewing training shoes that they say give them blisters, the runners usually compete wearing traditional "huaraches" -- sandals made out of tire tread and bound to their feet with soft leather thongs.
To avoid stubbed toes, competitors in the men's race use a curved stick to roll the grapefruit-sized ball on to the tops of their feet. They then punt it ahead of them around the clock, with the accuracy of a soccer-team striker.
Most say they don't train for the race and often set off with a swig of maize beer in their bellies. At each lap cheering supporters hold out tortillas and cups of "pinole," an energy-rich maize drink, to help them keep their strength up.
Betting on the outcome is common and stakes can include rugs, clothes and even goats wagered by villagers. Locals say the pot is placed in a large heap in the open before the start of the race.
Cheating is rife, and scams include hiding the rival team's stash of pine torches, which are used to light the jagged trails at night. Shamans are also regularly called upon to hex the opposing team, in a bid to throw them off the pace.
Runners say the "sukuruames," as the evil sorcerers are known, use a human shin bone to invoke evil spirits that break their opponents' will or make them sick.
"The sorcerer grinds the bone up and buries it in the trail you run over," says Carrillo, who is one of the area's most respected runners.
The hex can "hit you with a cramp, give you stomach ache, or even knock out your eyesight," he says.
Tradition In Decline
Apart from the victory of women's 400-meter champion Ana Guevara in the 2003 IAAF World Championships, Mexican runners have not shone in international athletics.
Raramuri runners made an indifferent debut in the 1928 Olympic marathon in Amsterdam, reportedly complaining after being abruptly pulled up at the 26-mile (42-km) mark that the race was "too short."
In recent years they have found success in the growing ultra-marathon race circuit in the United States, snatching victory in grueling altitude contests such as the Leadville Trail 100, run over mountain roads in Colorado.
But despite recent successes, anthropologists say a revival has been knocked back by the spread of cars, rampant alcohol abuse and even evangelical Protestant cults that take a dim view of gambling.
While men continue to compete every few weeks, the women's race, in which competitors use hooked canes to hurl a small hoop called an "ariweta" along a course of up to 60 miles (100 km), has been particularly hard hit, locals say.
"It's sad as there haven't been any races around here for about a year," said former runner Natalia Castro, her face revealing a flash of the steely determination that made her a tough competitor.
"But my children will run, they'll have to. We can't afford to lose this tradition." |
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