By Umer Nangiana
More than a hundred races across seven continents and counting. For him, running has more to it than just physical fitness and personal glory. It keeps hope alive, he says. Every time he runs, someone somewhere in the world, suffering from disease or poverty, gets a fresh lease. He runs to the help of the world’s destitute.
Meet Ziyad Rahim, a Pakistani based in Qatar, who is a world record holder in long-distance running.
Rahim ran his — along with his country’s — name into the
In the process, he raised awareness for CARE Pakistan, a non-profit organisation providing free education to underprivileged children in Pakistan.
Starting January this year, Rahim embarked on another world record breaking challenge, running an ultra-marathon on each continent in fastest time, 41 days and three hours, in an attempt to beat the previous record of 267 days (1999). He accomplished it this month (March 8) by completing the last leg in South Africa.
In the process, he has set four more Guinness World Records (officially confirmed by Guinness) in different ultra-marathon categories.
Once again, he did not run without a cause. The Pakistani marathoner was raising awareness for Maria Cristina Foundation, Dubai and Pakistan Welfare Forum, Qatar, the two charities based in GCC region with an established profile for their work on children’s education.
“When you are running a marathon, you are running besides the most optimistic and the fittest people in the world. It is probably the only sport in which you take part and you raise money for charities,” Rahim told me. It was difficult to catch up with him as he is always ‘on the run’ but I did manage to sit him down for a chat.
We met at a restaurant where, over a quick meal, he told me stories from his ‘running life’ and his keenness in raising awareness particularly about underprivileged children. At the age of 40, Rahim, a father of two, is so agile that it is difficult to keep up with even the pace at which he walks. He moves fast and he even talks fast, always conscious of his time.
By profession, Rahim is a banking executive. He is head of Market Risk at Barwa Bank, Doha. Originally from Lahore, Pakistan, Rahim also holds a Canadian passport which makes possible his visa-free travel, and he has been living in Qatar for five years.
He is clearly one of the select few daring men and women who are not afraid of taking on our planet’s toughest terrains. Running a marathon, which is 26.2 miles, on any surface is a difficult undertaking but picture this; Arctic ocean in North Pole, minus 40 degrees temperature and ‘frozen water’ for the running track.
Here, you are tasked to run a marathon on a six-foot thick active ice floe, separating you from 12,000 feet deep Arctic Ocean. Rahim has completed this challenge once in his life and it was here that he accomplished his world record also.
He is a member of the elite North Pole Marathon Grand Slam Club, the only Pakistani to make it to the select 78 members from different countries of the world. It is also his personal favourite marathon.
“It is an amazing experience. It is very nice just for the sheer fact that you are running near the North Pole,” Rahim recalled his experience of the ‘coolest race.’
He narrated how the marathon is done. There is no land, just the frozen Arctic Ocean. The sun comes out at the North Pole by the end of March. There is a special logistics company that flies over the ocean and finds a suitable place for landing where they drop logistics and manpower. The engineers and specialists asses the track and create a run way.
“They do a test landing on the runway and only after ensuring that everything is fine, they come and pick us (the athletes) from Svalbard which is 78 degrees north, right at the top of Norway,” said Rahim, rejoicing at the memories of his experience.
It takes strong nerves and a very fit body to even think of participating in such marathons. He has trained his nerves over a period of time through his experience with different types of marathons; however, he has to follow a regular exercise and diet regime to stay on top of his physical fitness.
“Every week I play squash for two days, perform spinning exercises for another two and do the running exercise for two days. I run 20-25 kilometres every day,” said Rahim. He avoids fatty food, stays away from carbonated drinks and eats at regular intervals.
He plans his day in such a way that he gives proper time to work, his family and passion, the marathons. Rahim believes there is no excuse for an unhealthy life as everyone can easily find time for exercise.
“You have 24 hours in a day. Even if you sleep for 8 hours and work for 10, you are still left with 6 hours from which you can easily find an hour or so for exercise after spending time with your family,” said the marathoner.
Running marathons also provides him and his family opportunities to roam the world. He finds his marathon destinations for the year and then the family plans their vacation around it for that year. His two children, daughter Zara, 7, and son Mekaal, 6, have so far been to 45 countries, said Rahim. They also take part in kiddies’ marathons, he added.
Rahim, son of cricket commentator Tariq Rahim, found his passion for adventure and running marathons whilst in Aitcheson College Lahore where he used to participate in cross country races. He moved to Canada in 2000 where his house was near the start of Toronto Marathon. Taking inspiration from there, he started running. He ran his first marathon in 2003.
Rahim is no stranger to long-distance marathons and raising awareness about charities. In 2010, he ran marathons for three consecutive weeks in UK and raised money for Pakistan’s flood victims.
In 2012, he participated in the Marathon des Sables (MdS), the toughest foot-race on earth and this time he joined hands with ‘Facing Africa’, a charity to create awareness and raise money for NOMA disease patients in Western Africa.
Noma is a gangrenous disease leading to tissue destruction of the face especially those in the mouth and cheek. Noma has affected over half a million people, with 140,000 new cases reported each year according to estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Mostly children below the age of 12, in the poorest countries of Africa and some parts of Asia and South America are its victims. According to WHO, about 80-90 percent of Noma victims die.
And Rahim had taken on an equally dangerous race to raise awareness about the Noma victims. The MdS is held annually in Southern Morocco, is the toughest ultra-marathon in the world where the lives of at least two competitors have been lost in the past. An Italian runner had lost his way during a sandstorm in 1994 and wandered for nine days, losing 13kg.
The risks were high but he emerged successful. “Wherever I see children in problem I try to raise awareness about it and help them,” said the Pakistani athlete. Once again, he was trying to help children by creating awareness about PWF and MCF’s work.
The latter, he said, was very active and it had managed to raise about US$100, 000 so far — the target is to raise a million dollars. His race was still underway and Rahim hopes people would donate for the charities as they have always been forthcoming in the past as well.
Since January 24 this year, Rahim has successfully completed 50km ultra-marathons in Antarctica, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa in consecutive weeks as part of his record-breaking effort.
All his races have been different. In Antarctica, he ran a hilly course in -20 degree. In Chile, it was running against winds of over 60 km/hr. In UK for instance, he ran during the worst floods in Southern England and was one of the only 23 runners out of 65 starters to complete a night ultra-marathon in the most unforgiving of conditions.
The past few weeks, he has been flying hundreds of miles to his marathon destinations and back home.
During his latest record attempt, he flew every weekend to different continents, ran the utramarathon and immediately flew back to get to work the next day.
However, both his family and his Bank, Rahim said, have been very supportive. He plans to take part in Boston and London marathon in April this year.
“After this, I have promised my wife that I would taper down,” said Rahim, smiling.
