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Ultra Running: Cancer battler ready to go the distance in quest for records
Chris Carver.
For most long-distance runners, the challenge of a 26-mile marathon is more than enough.
Not for Otley’s remarkable Chris Carver whose next goal is to break the British record for running 48 hours non-stop.
Carver, 47, has been an established “ultra-runner’ for the last eight years and now has the incredible achievement of 10 24-hour races under his belt.
Even more incredible is the fact that the Otley Athletics Club man has twice recovered from cancer – the long-distance enthusiast insisting that even whilst hospitalised he was running up and down the ward for practice.
That revelation is quite believable about a man who has represented the UK and England at ultra-race Commonwealth, European and World Championships where he has secured a gold, a silver and a bronze.
Poland’s 24-hour race World Championships in September is this year’s biggest date but there’s another challenge calling – a 48-hour one – and an assignment of which Carver holds no fears.
Remarkable
Revealing his remarkable story to LS1 this week, Carver said: “Even as a child I never thought a marathon was the pinnacle.
“A lot of people do, runners and non-runners, but I never thought that and I remember reading about the London-to-Brighton race.
“That was the sort of thing I was interested in – the longer distances and it’s just been an extension from that.
“I’ve now done ten 24-hour races but I’m not going to make the UK team or England team forever and in some ways I am coming towards the end of that.
“But after that some goals will be to get some records – UK, English or world records.
“I’m not going to get one in a 24-hour race I don’t think but 48 hours and a thousand miles and stuff like that – I don’t see why not.
“The British record for 48 hours is 400km I think and I’m sure I can do 400km in 48 hours. It’s just about finding the race to do it as there’s none in this country.”
Rock music enthusiast Carver –- who only stops in his races for toilet duties – admits that a huge challenge in a 48-hour race will be merely staying awake.
He has already experienced something similar when he ran from Otley to London in 2009 to raise money for charity – an assignment that took in 208 miles and lasted around 45 hours.
“When I ran to London I was literally running and sleeping at the same time,” he recalls.
“I had a helper holding me up while I was running – I had my head on his shoulder just plodding along.”
However, Carver insists the biggest stumbling block is the travel and hotel expenses to compete in the continent’s only 48-hour races in the likes of Germany, France and Greece.
There is only one 24-hour race in England – held in London in September. To Bradford-born Carver, who was inspired into running after watching the 1972 Munich Olympics, the rest of the challenge and the actual running of the race is apparently a relative piece of cake.
“I’ve been a runner since 1972 and I learnt in the first 20 years that it’s not the distance that’s the problem, it’s the speed,” said Carver, who is married to Fay and has a 17-year-old son, Keir.
“It’s just about carrying on for a long time but it’s impossible to do it quickly, you have just got to do it slowly, take your time and carry on.
“You’ve got to pace yourself and you’ve also got eating and drinking to consider as well as you eat and drink on the move.
“Whatever you eat has got to be soft so that you can swallow it easily. Things like custard, rice pudding, bananas, bread and other bits of fruit.”
Not that it’s plain sailing by any means.
Carver added: “When I’ve finished a race the phrase I use is that I often ache all over –- literally inside and out. It really does push you to the limit.
“When you are in the second half of a race it does get emotional and you often start crying for no reason.
“I also think the last race I did was the first one where nobody ended up in hospital.”
Carver knows all too well about hospitals and that the Yorkshireman is running at all these days is a huge triumph given his desperate luck with illness in the 1990s.
Diagnosed twice with cancer, the battling Otley runner has now made a complete recovery.
“The first time was in 1990 and that was testicular cancer,” revealed Carver, originally a teacher.
“I was running up until the day I was in hospital and I think it was my birthday when I went into hospital – my 26th birthday.
Entertain
“I had a testicle removed but then a few months later I went for a normal check up and the cancer had spread to my lungs.
“I had six months, I think, of chemotherapy which was very hard but I used to entertain the doctors and nurses by running up and down the ward in hospital while on the drip stand!
“It was a year or two later when I had an operation on a lung that was the scariest part for me – I had part of my right lung removed and I think that really brought it home to me how close I was from not being here.”
Slim chance of anything beating Carver though, who now intends to continue his ultra-running well into his “retirement” years.
“People do it into their 70s and 80s and I’ll do it as long as I enjoy it,” he said.
“My medium-term wish would be to take part in three races a year but one of them would need to be abroad so I will need funding for that.
“Long term I know I can get a record.”
Anybody who can help Carver with his quest to break the 48-hour record can contact him at chris.carver@btopenworld.com or call him on 01943 468109.
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