Hong Kong runner takes on 100 half-marathons in 100 days, Badwater and Arch to Arc Triathlon with ‘a momentum into the unknown’
- Mayank Vaid is busy with three massive endurance challenges over consecutive months ending in his third run, swim and cycle from London to Paris
- Says he is drawn to the unknown because he had a childhood of changes and uncertainties that resulted in an unusual education at the ‘university of life’
Mayank Vaid is taking on three challenges, each of which individually would be a monumental task. He is running 100 half-marathons in 100 days finishing on April 3, then he immediately starts a virtual Badwater involving a total of 430km of running, followed by a Enduroman Arch to Arc Triathlon running, swimming and cycling from London to Paris in July.
The Hong Kong-based Indian is drawn to ultra sports because it is so hard to predict the outcome. “Unpredictability, the unknown. I like to race against the unknown,” Vaid said. “I like to deal with the ambiguous events when I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Ultra events are not as simple as a marathon or normal swimming race, where the result is a sum total of your training, he said. There are infinite variables which might all affect your body differently on any given day.
“It’s definitely got to do with childhood,” Vaid said. “Childhood was all about not knowing what is happening tomorrow. I changed 13 schools in 12 years because my dad was in the army. We were living out of trunks.
“The schools were short-lived, friendships were short-lived, relationships with class teachers were short-lived. There was already a momentum to the unknown. Everyone told my father, ‘the kids are going to end up losers, totally without any direction’. He said that’s the university of life. He had no choice, we kept moving.