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The Spartathlon 斯巴達(dá)超級(jí)馬拉松 The lunacy of the long-distance runner 長(zhǎng)跑運(yùn)動(dòng)員的瘋狂 Vomit, bleeding nipples and hallucinations. Why would anyone in their right mind run the Spartathlon? 嘔吐、乳頭出血以及幻覺(jué)。為什么會(huì)有精神正常的人想要跑斯巴達(dá)超馬？ Dec 22nd 2012 | ATHENS AND SPARTI | from the print edition of The Economist 譯者：nayilus THE Parthenon is lit, but Athens is still dark. In the gloom, a cleaner is sweeping the pedestrianised road that runs beneath the southern slope of the Acropolis. And in the trees beside the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient stone theatre, Lycra-clad figures are urinating everywhere. 帕泰農(nóng)神殿點(diǎn)起了燈光，但整個(gè)雅典還在睡眠之中。四周一片昏暗，一個(gè)清潔工正在清掃雅典衛(wèi)城南坡之下的人行道。在海羅德·阿得庫(kù)斯露天劇場(chǎng)旁的樹(shù)叢里，到處都是身穿氨綸運(yùn)動(dòng)服、正在撒尿的運(yùn)動(dòng)員。 These are the last few minutes before the start of the Spartathlon, one of the world’s toughest ultra-marathons. The 310 runners in this year’s race are doing their final stretches. Energy supplements are being taken; running belts are being checked; caps with neck flaps to protect against the sun are being adjusted. Many athletes have a crew to support them during the race; there is time for some final words of encouragement before the runners edge towards the starting line. 這是斯巴達(dá)超馬開(kāi)始前的最后幾分鐘。該賽事是世界上最艱難的超級(jí)馬拉松（簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)超馬）之一。今年參賽的310名跑者正在做最后的伸展運(yùn)動(dòng)。他們正在吞服能量補(bǔ)品、檢查腰帶、調(diào)整防日曬的遮脖帽。很多參賽選手都有在賽程中提供支持的團(tuán)隊(duì)。在選手紛紛走向起跑線之前還有時(shí)間對(duì)他們說(shuō)兩句最后的鼓勵(lì)之詞。 At 7am precisely, as dawn approaches, the race begins. The field strings round the Acropolis and past the agora, the heart of ancient Athenian life, before heading into the early-morning traffic. The pace is gentle: an average runner can keep up for the first kilometre easily. But this race is about distance, not speed. After that first kilometre, another and another and another lie ahead. Everyone in the field has completed at least a 100km (62-mile) race. For this event, they will have to run 245km (or almost six consecutive marathons) within 36 hours. Only 72 of them will end up making it all the way to historical Sparta. 在早上7點(diǎn)整，隨著黎明的降臨，比賽開(kāi)始了。比賽路線繞衛(wèi)城一周，通過(guò)雅典阿哥拉這一古代雅典生活的中心，然后就和清晨的雅典交通一起踏上道路。跑者們的步伐并不快：普通的跑者在首一公里內(nèi)要跟上他們不是什么難事。但是這項(xiàng)賽事的關(guān)鍵不在于速度，而是距離。在跑完第一公里之后，一個(gè)個(gè)公里會(huì)接踵而來(lái)。參賽的所有選手都曾經(jīng)跑完過(guò)至少100公里（62英里）的賽事。在這項(xiàng)賽事里，他們需要在36小時(shí)內(nèi)跑完245公里。最后成功抵達(dá)古代斯巴達(dá)地區(qū)的選手只有72名。 This year’s Spartathlon, which took place in late September, was the 30th. Its heritage goes back much further. The most famous ultra-marathon in history was that run by Pheidippides, an Athenian who made the journey to Sparta in 490BC. His mission was to ask the Spartans for their help in fighting the invading Persians; Herodotus, a historian, records that he reached Sparta on the day after he left Athens. (The Spartans were celebrating a religious festival, so could not offer help until after the Athenians had dispatched the Persians at the battle of Marathon.) 今年9月底舉行的斯巴達(dá)超馬是第30屆。但是其歷史傳承則要古老的多。歷史上最著名的超馬跑者是雅典人菲迪皮得斯（Pheidippides），他在公元前490年完成這一長(zhǎng)跑來(lái)到斯巴達(dá)，目的是為了請(qǐng)求斯巴達(dá)人發(fā)動(dòng)援軍抵抗入侵的波斯大軍。歷史學(xué)家希羅多德（Herodotus）在書(shū)中記錄了菲迪皮得斯離開(kāi)雅典后第二天就抵達(dá)了斯巴達(dá)。不過(guò)斯巴達(dá)人當(dāng)時(shí)正在慶祝一個(gè)宗教節(jié)日，因此無(wú)法及時(shí)派兵，等到他們派出軍隊(duì)時(shí)，雅典人已經(jīng)在馬拉松戰(zhàn)役里擊敗了波斯大軍。 Herodotus did not appear particularly taken by Pheidippides’s feat of endurance. Since his “Histories” also includes tales of ants bigger than foxes, it probably seemed rather unimpressive. But in 1982 his terse description sparked the interest of a British air-force officer and long-distance runner called John Foden, who wondered if it really was possible to run from Athens to Sparta and arrive the next day. With four other officers, Mr Foden decided to see for himself; after 36 hours’ slog they arrived in Sparti, as the town is now called. 希羅多德對(duì)于菲迪皮得斯的長(zhǎng)跑壯舉并未表示特別的驚訝?？紤]到他所著的《歷史》一書(shū)中也包括比狐貍還要大的螞蟻這一類(lèi)故事，他對(duì)這項(xiàng)成就無(wú)動(dòng)于衷也許是可以理解的。但是1982年一位英國(guó)空軍軍官兼長(zhǎng)跑運(yùn)動(dòng)員約翰·佛登（John Foden）對(duì)希羅多德簡(jiǎn)短的描述產(chǎn)生了興趣。他開(kāi)始考慮一個(gè)問(wèn)題：從雅典開(kāi)始跑，第二天就到達(dá)斯巴達(dá)究竟可不可能？佛登和其他四位軍官一起決定親自驗(yàn)證這一點(diǎn)，在36小時(shí)的艱難之旅后，他們終于抵達(dá)了現(xiàn)代的斯巴達(dá)鎮(zhèn)。 Racing through history 穿越歷史的長(zhǎng)跑 That achievement inspired the organisation of the first Spartathlon a year later; the race now ranks as one of the world’s classic ultra-marathons. The Spartathlon’s allure has two sources. The first is the difficulty of finishing it. Any race that is longer than a marathon can call itself an ultra-marathon, but no self-respecting ultrarunner gets excited about finishing, say, a 48km course. The most talked-about events in the calendar are the ones that look most incomprehensible to the average person. 這項(xiàng)成就促成了一年后舉辦的第一屆斯巴達(dá)超馬賽事。現(xiàn)在其已是全世界超馬比賽中的經(jīng)典賽事之一。斯巴達(dá)超馬的吸引力有兩個(gè)原因。首先，跑完該賽事是非常困難的。任何長(zhǎng)度超過(guò)馬拉松的賽事都可以被稱(chēng)為是超馬。但是任何有自尊心的超長(zhǎng)距離跑者對(duì)于跑完像是48公里這樣的賽事都不會(huì)感到興奮。每年他們討論最多的是那些普通人完全無(wú)法理解的賽事。 Take the Barkley. This 161km trail race in Tennessee forces runners to makes climbs and descents of 18,000 metres each inside 60 hours. The Barkley has been going since 1986, and in that period only 13 people have managed to finish the course within the cut-off time. Badwater is another race that derives kudos from insanity. The 217km course in California runs from Death Valley to Mount Whitney in temperatures of 50°C and above. (“Nudity is specifically not allowed,” say the rules.) 例如巴克利超馬，這項(xiàng)在美國(guó)田納西州舉行的161公里賽事要求參賽者在60小時(shí)內(nèi)跑完，其中包括長(zhǎng)達(dá)18公里的上坡和18公里的下坡。巴克利超馬從1986年開(kāi)始舉行，至今只有13人曾在規(guī)定時(shí)間內(nèi)跑完全程。惡水超馬是另一項(xiàng)因?yàn)榀偪穸麣獯笤龅馁愂?。這項(xiàng)美國(guó)加州賽事長(zhǎng)達(dá)217公里，在50攝氏度以上的高溫里選手們必須從死谷一路跑到惠特利峰。（大賽規(guī)則中寫(xiě)道：“特別注意－選手禁止裸體”） The Spartathlon cannot claim such extremes. It is not the hilliest race, nor the hottest. But it combines lots of different tests. There is the heat of the Greek day, then the plunge in temperatures when darkness falls. There are climbs, too: the route includes a series of ascents, among them a 1,200-metre mountain pass negotiated in the dead of night. Above all, there is the relentless pressure of the clock. 斯巴達(dá)超馬并不具有這些極端因素。它既不是最崎嶇的，也不是最炎熱的。但是這項(xiàng)賽事把很多不同的考驗(yàn)融合在一起。希臘地區(qū)白天格外炎熱，而天黑后氣溫又開(kāi)始急降。賽程中也包含坡度：比賽路線會(huì)經(jīng)過(guò)一系列上坡路段，包括在深夜要爬上一座海拔1200米的山口。在所有這些因素之上更有時(shí)間對(duì)跑者施加著無(wú)情的壓力。 Badwater gives competitors 48 hours to finish; the Spartathlon gives them 12 hours fewer to run 27km more. A series of 75 checkpoints ram home the pressure: if a runner is not at a checkpoint by a specified time, he is pulled out of the race. That explains why many Spartathletes mock the Marathon des Sables (MdS), a six-day, 250km run through the Sahara that has a much higher profile and also vies for the title of the world’s toughest foot race. The MdS allows for fripperies such as sleep. “A trekking holiday” is how one veteran of both dismisses it. 惡水超馬給參賽者48小時(shí)跑完全程。斯巴達(dá)超馬比惡水超馬長(zhǎng)27公里，給選手的時(shí)間卻要少整整12個(gè)小時(shí)。一路上還有75道關(guān)卡向選手施壓：選手如果抵達(dá)某一關(guān)卡所用時(shí)間超過(guò)規(guī)定，就必須退出比賽。這解釋了為什么很多斯巴達(dá)超馬跑者對(duì)于撒哈拉馬拉松（MdS）嗤之以鼻。該賽事的知名度要比斯巴達(dá)超馬高得多，而且其同樣也在角逐最艱難的長(zhǎng)跑賽事這一殊榮。撒哈拉馬拉松歷時(shí)6天，全程通過(guò)撒哈拉沙漠，總長(zhǎng)250公里，其間包括讓選手可以睡覺(jué)休息這樣的“花俏玩意”。一位兩項(xiàng)賽事都曾跑過(guò)的老將把撒哈拉馬拉松稱(chēng)為一次“假日遠(yuǎn)足”。 If the athletic demands of the race explain some of its prestige, a second reason is its heritage. Never mind that the first stages take the runners through a grim industrial estate outside Athens: the idea of retracing Pheidippides’s footsteps still grips many participants. “It feels like racing in history, passing through places where history began,” says Ivan Cudin, an Italian who won in 2010 and 2011. 如果說(shuō)這項(xiàng)賽事對(duì)參加者身體素質(zhì)的要求是其地位崇高的原因之一，那么另一個(gè)原因要數(shù)其歷史傳承。雖然賽程最初幾段路會(huì)穿過(guò)雅典市郊陰森森的工業(yè)區(qū)，但是追隨菲迪皮得斯的腳步對(duì)很多參賽者來(lái)說(shuō)還是有著特殊的吸引力。2010年和2011年贏得冠軍的意大利人伊凡·庫(kù)丁（Ivan Cudin）說(shuō)：“感覺(jué)上就好像是在歷史里賽跑，沿途經(jīng)過(guò)歷史起源的地方。” 因此，斯巴達(dá)超馬可說(shuō)是一項(xiàng)宏偉傳統(tǒng)的低調(diào)實(shí)例，是對(duì)古典希臘入迷的外國(guó)訪客的盛事。19世紀(jì)20年代西方對(duì)希臘獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的支持就是基于現(xiàn)代希臘是古代希臘的傳承這一親希臘思想之上的。希臘之所以能夠加入歐盟和歐元區(qū)很大程度上也是因?yàn)椤皼](méi)有民主搖籃的歐洲不是完整的歐洲”這一思想。1979年當(dāng)希臘簽訂加入歐洲共同體協(xié)議時(shí)，法國(guó)總統(tǒng)瓦勒里·吉斯卡爾·德斯坦（Valéry Giscard d’Estaing）曾說(shuō)過(guò)：“沒(méi)有希臘的歐洲就不能算是歐洲。歐洲文化在希臘達(dá)到了最具活力的表達(dá)并獲得了其有關(guān)均衡和美的絕妙感覺(jué)?！?/p> A glorious past, especially one heroised so relentlessly by the rest of the world, can be a burden, says Nikos Dimou, the author of a book of aphorisms called “The Unhappiness of Being Greek”, which was published in Greece itself in 1975, has subsequently become a big seller in Germany, and will appear in English in 2013. One of his pertinent reflections runs: 尼科斯·迪默（Nikos Dimou）曾著有《身為希臘人的不幸》一書(shū)。該書(shū)在1975年于希臘出版，后來(lái)又在德國(guó)大賣(mài)，2013年其英譯本將會(huì)問(wèn)世。他認(rèn)為一段輝煌的過(guò)去，尤其是被世界其它地方所極力推崇的過(guò)去有時(shí)會(huì)是一種負(fù)擔(dān)。他有一句反思尤為一語(yǔ)中的： 'Any race believing itself to be descended from the ancient Greeks would be automatically unhappy. Unless it could either forget them or surpass them.' “一個(gè)種族如果相信自己是古希臘人的直系后代，那除非他能遺忘或是超越過(guò)去，不然其將自動(dòng)陷身于不幸之中?！?/p>
The Spartathlon feels like a largely uncomplicated homage. But the gap between troubled modernity and shining antiquity still gapes uncomfortably at times. The stinging of tear gas in Syntagma Square two nights before this year’s race began was one reminder of Greece’s current problems. And when the citizens of Sparti stood to hear the national anthem of the winner, there was an awful inevitability to the sound of the Deutschlandlied. 斯巴達(dá)超馬作為一項(xiàng)懷古盛事感覺(jué)上并沒(méi)有摻雜太多的復(fù)雜情緒。但是倍受困擾的現(xiàn)代狀況和閃耀發(fā)光的古代故事之間存在的巨大鴻溝依然時(shí)不時(shí)顯露出來(lái)，給人以不適的感覺(jué)。今年的斯巴達(dá)超馬起跑兩晚前在雅典憲法廣場(chǎng)殘留的催淚氣體刺眼的感覺(jué)依然提醒人們希臘現(xiàn)在面臨的問(wèn)題。而當(dāng)斯巴達(dá)市的市民傾聽(tīng)冠軍選手國(guó)歌時(shí)，播放的是《德意志之歌》也帶來(lái)一種糟糕的命中注定感。 From the start, the pressure of the clock leads to some bad decisions. The goal of many in the Spartathlon is to build up a comfortable time buffer in the first part of the race, which they can gradually run down when the going gets tough in the later stages. A reasonable plan, as long as you don’t go too fast too early. 從一開(kāi)始，時(shí)間壓力就造成一些選手做出錯(cuò)誤決定。很多斯巴達(dá)超馬選手的目標(biāo)是在第一段賽程內(nèi)累積舒適的時(shí)間盈余，這樣在之后賽程變得艱難時(shí)他們就可以慢慢使用這些盈余。這是一個(gè)很明智的計(jì)劃，前提是你不能太早提速過(guò)快。 在今年的賽事里，希臘的天氣意味著除了坐在樹(shù)蔭下不動(dòng)，任何速度都可以說(shuō)是過(guò)快了。希臘9月尾通常氣溫都不低，但是今年的溫度比往年還要更高。瀝青路和路邊巖石表面散發(fā)出來(lái)的熱量進(jìn)一步讓空氣升溫。在這樣的狀況下中暑和脫水是兩個(gè)很明顯的問(wèn)題，但大量飲水并不一定是正解。很多選手發(fā)現(xiàn)自己無(wú)法把食物和飲料保持在胃中：通往斯巴達(dá)的道路上布滿了選手的嘔吐物。飲水過(guò)量會(huì)使體內(nèi)多余的水分稀釋血液中的鈉含量，使選手容易陷入一種稱(chēng)為低鈉血癥的狀況。這等于是從體內(nèi)發(fā)生的溺水。 The heat caused a very high early drop-out rate. Many people were timed out before the first major checkpoint, after 80km. Those whose race ends prematurely are collected by a bus (nicknamed “the death bus”) which slowly makes its way to Sparti, stopping to pick up more non-finishers and occasionally to let off its passengers to throw up. 高溫讓大量選手在賽程初期紛紛退出。在距起點(diǎn)80公里處的第一個(gè)主要關(guān)卡有很多選手因?yàn)槌瑫r(shí)而失去資格。那些未跑完全程就退出比賽的選手會(huì)被接到一輛巴士（人們稱(chēng)其為“死亡巴士”）上。該車(chē)慢悠悠地駛向終點(diǎn)斯巴達(dá)，沿途不斷停車(chē)將更多的退賽選手接上車(chē)，偶爾也停下來(lái)讓車(chē)上乘客可以下車(chē)嘔吐。 The survivors run on, across the Isthmus of Corinth and into the Peloponnese. At ancient Corinth, 93km from Athens and barely more than a third of the way into the race, athletes sporadically arrive at another checkpoint. 幸存者繼續(xù)向前奔跑，穿越科林斯地峽，進(jìn)入伯羅奔尼撒半島。在距雅典93公里的柯林斯古城，選手們陸續(xù)抵達(dá)另一個(gè)關(guān)卡。他們才剛剛跑完全程的三分之一。 All pain and no gain 滿是痛苦，毫無(wú)收獲 The drama lies not in the competition between them but in their personal struggles. Many douse themselves repeatedly in cold water. Some briefly rest, grimacing as they rise to their feet again. One disoriented Japanese runner heads off in the wrong direction, and needs to be overhauled and turned around. James Adams, a British runner, arrives after about ten hours on the road, a great muddy stain of blood on his shirt, courtesy of unlubricated nipples. A couple of tourists sit in a nearby taverna watching the runners head off again. “Isn’t it amazing?” says one. “Or stupid,” responds the other. Her scepticism is understandable. Come and get them The statue stands at the end of Sparti’s main street. A crowd gathers around Leonidas early on the morning of the second day, staying put until the final cut-off at 7pm. When the runners descend into Sparti they are met on the fringes by a posse of local children on bicycles, who first clap them past and then cycle behind them on their final loop through the town. People in pavement cafés, many of them participants who have been ferried to Sparti on the death bus, rise and applaud as each competitor shuffles past.
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