The running segment of the V+R Challenge is officially closed. (You can still play with the Virtual Run application, but as of today it won’t count towards Sports Without Borders support.) To thank you for following us, submitting your virtual run, and cheering Philippe Fuchs on from the virtual sidelines, I’ve selected a special video for your watching and listening pleasure:
Why 10,000 times “thank you”? Because if you add:
• 780 virtual kilometers run by cyber-athletes like yourself
• 8,487 real kilometers run by Philippe Fuchs
• Not to mention the virtual racing kilometers racked up by the McKinley school
• And of course we cannot forget the real kilometers biked and driven by the V+R Boys, Daniel Grassy and Bernard Robutel . . .
Then you have WELL over 10,000 kilometers; so a Thank You for each one seems only appropriate!
The next portion of the V+R Challenge involves scientists from the Scientific Motion Institute. Once there’s news about their 3D study of the human foot, I’ll blog about it on 3DSports.
Changing gears, I thought you may like to see how Google Analytics ranks 3DSports’ most popular blog posts.
In addition to covering the V+R Challenge, I’ve really enjoyed writing about the hidden world of sports and would like to thank those who’ve followed, participated in our conversations, and also to people stumbling upon 3DSports just now. (There are ~ 50 blog posts to discover.)
On a personal note, my “sports innovation” is that I’ve started running, and I largely attribute this to being so involved with the V+R Challenge. I figure if Philippe Fuchs, a 57-year-old virtual reality professor, can run from Paris to Beijing in 161 days, then I should be able to will my 30-something-year-old self to jog around the neighborhood twice a week. “Challenge” is relative after all, n’est-ce pas?
Didn’t know about it? (Or just between us, perhaps a little lazy or indifferent?) Well, you missed your chance!
Eh? What’s that I hear? (A little Mehdi Tayoubi bird is whispering in my ear . . .)
“Kate, we’ve extended the virtual run deadline to September 15,” says Mehdi bird.
Did I hear that right?
“I said, WE’VE EXTENDED THE VIRTUAL RUN DEADLINE TO SEPTEMBER 15!” repeats Mehdi bird.
GREAT!
Now you, reader, yes YOU! Get your webcam/digital camera out and let ‘er rip!
–Kate
P.S. Don’t forget to show your ears in both photos for your photorealistic 3D avatar. To create your photorealistic 3D avatar (your virtual runner), the system needs to see your forehead, mouth and ears to recreate you!
P.P.S. Why not have a virtual run party/teambuilding activity, gathering your friends or coworkers for a V+R Challenge photo shoot and virtual run submission session?
They said it. Philippe Fuchs, Bernard Robutel, Daniel Grassy, Nathalie Fuchs.
I scanned the V+R Challenge TVnima episodes and extracted what I find to be the most entertaining quotes. Think David Letterman’s Top Ten countdowns, with number one as the most entertaining.
(On another level I find the compilation kind of profound and poetic.)
Top 10 entertaining quotes:
10.) Do you see the monument there? It’s a missile-launcher. (Bernard, near Russian border)
9.) Well no one’s in the kitchen; we’ll have to cook the kebabs ourselves. (Daniel, in Russia’s Ural region)
8.) I don’t know how we’re going to get it to work. It’s not with my little hands that we’ll get it to work. (Bernard, in Ural region)
7.) I told you last night not to go that way. (Philippe, still in the Ural region)
6.) We don’t know them, but they give us gifts along the route, they stop to talk with us. For example, one person gave us a little skeleton to hang from the rear view mirror; another gave us a religious figurine. (Bernard, before entering Siberia)
5.) I would never run from Paris to Beijing virtually! It’s much better in reality. (Philippe, somewhere in Siberia)
4.) I think they’re going to arrest me. (Bernard, in the Ural region)
3.) The vendor took pieces of pork out of the trunk of his car and cut off pieces with an axe! (Nathalie, in the outskirts of Novosibirsk)
2.) Maybe it’s more natural to run than to walk. (Philippe, approaching Siberia)
1.)To everyone, 8,500 ‘thank-yous’ for the adventure of my life!!! (Philippe, in Beijing)
Depending on how you measure it (including its presence in Inner Mongolia or not), the Great Wall of China stretches between 6,400-6,700 kilometers.
Philippe Fuchs has just run over 27-32 percent a longer distance than the Great Wall of China.
Has it sunk in yet?
Let me put it another way. In just 24 weeks and 161 days, after having started his V+R Challenge run in Paris on March 7, Philippe Fuchs has worn out 10 pairs of running shoes and made it to Beijing after footing 8,500 kilometers across 2 continents and 7 countries. (Breath here)
Before getting to the congratulations bit, I can’t help but reflect about the V+R Challenge and the Great Wall of China.
A wall is at the same time a boundary and something to overcome or breach. The Great Wall of China was built to protect the Chinese Empire’s territory. It was a place to watch for the enemy and at times the scene of battle. At one point over a million men guarded it. It was also a passageway for those who earned the right, whether by birth, trade or combat, to enter China. Even today its mere presence instills awe, respect and a desire to conquer.
The V+R Challenge was in several ways a monumental boundary to overcome. For one, the idea of running from Paris to Beijing in 24 consecutive weeks is a pretty big blocking point for any athlete. Doing it means ‘running up against the wall’ day after day, having to overcome your joggling physical, mental and emotional conditions, as well as escaping unharmed from attacking dogs, nasty customs officers, icy snow and suffocating dessert heat. 8,500 kilometers.
The V+R Challenge is also the beginning of breaking through a scientific wall. Not Trojan Horse style, but the old fashioned way, step by step. In wall-breaking terms, the data gathered from Fuchs’ feet represents a warrior approaching the Great Wall and hacking out some stones with his axe. A lot more maneuvering is needed before breaking through. By breaking through I mean creating the world’s first scientifically valid virtual human foot, one that functions exactly as it would in the real world (with all 26 bones, 16 joints, 107 ligaments and 20 muscles).
Thanks to support generated for the charity Sports Without Borders through Philippe’s physical and your virtual kilometers run, the NGO is better armed to help international children overcome their own ‘walls’ through adapted therapeutic and rehabilitative sports programs.
So that they may progressively help more and more children surmount their difficulties, the France-headquartered NGO also hoped to overcome worldwide awareness ‘borders’ and boost international awareness necessary for fundraising. A relatively young NGO on the international scene, Sports Without Borders has made a global splash with the V+R Challenge. So far the V+R website has been visited by close to 150,000 Internet users from around the world (161 countries/territories to be exact). China, USA, Israel, France, and Morocco . . . Panama, Ukraine, Finland, Vietnam, Iran, Greece, Romania, India, Mexico . . .
(I’m happy to say that 3DSports has received visitors from 91 countries and territories.)
On a less serious but irresistible note, if you look at maps of the Great Wall of China like the one below, doesn’t it remind you of the V+R Challenge route?
I saved the best for last. Philippe Fuchs and the V+R Boys, Daniel Grassy and Bernard Robutel, as well as our intermittent V+R Gal, Anouk Garcia, literally surmounted the Great Wall of China! Here’s a victory photo taken by Anouk featuring from left to right Bernard, Philippe and Daniel. Look carefully, and you’ll see that they’re not doing the YMCA, they’re doing the WOW! Body language is powerful, eh?
Please join me in congratulating Philippe Fuchs and his cohorts in their accomplishment of a Great-Wall monumental feat!
–Kate
P.S. Now it’s okay to go ahead, pop open your champagne bottle and start-a-sippin!
P.P.S. This is not the end of the V+R Challenge. Stay tuned to 3DSports for more . . .
The event we’ve all been waiting for will occur tomorrow, but not exactly as we’d expected. Philippe Fuchs will arrive in Beijing around 1,500 kilometers shy of his 10,000 planned.
What happened?
Global warming hasn’t yet shrunk our planet. There are several legitimate reasons Philippe will clock in with more like 8,600 kilometers instead of 10,000. Cartography issues and injury are mostly to blame.
In order to prep for tomorrow’s big event, why not comprehend the ‘mystery’ now so you can fully enjoy the glory of the V+R Challenge’s accomplishment tomorrow? The best thing to do is get the full story from the man himself by viewing Episode 22 of Philippe’s TVnima journal.
–Kate
P.S. Many thanks to Richard Breitner who graciously manned 3DSports during my Griswold vacation!
Today, I’ll give you some data about the desert Philippe is crossing right now.
The Gobi desert is Asia’s largest desertic area and one of the greatest desert in the world with a surface about 1.3 million square kilometers. Much of the Gobi desert is not sandy but is covered with bare rock.
It features a dramatic temperature amplitude, 90 celsius degrees between winter and summer!
In winter, it’s the coldest desert in the world with -40°c, while it can reach 45°c in summer. Those hot conditions are the ones Philippe is likely to face right now.
For instance, today Philippe faced a slight sand storm, but he’s OK (he phoned us today)
However, the Gobi desert is just fascinating because of the various landscapes it offers to the traveller, from steppe to rock desert, semi-desert plateau, mountains and dunes. We should soon get very nice pictures and video footages from Anouck!
The population is essentially made of nomadic herders living in the traditional yurts (white tents). They also hunt using golden eagles, an art of its own.
This desert also sustains some of the most endangered animal species in the world such as the desert bear, the Bactrian camel (less than 50 individuals remain today) or the Przeswalski horse, which was declared extinct in wild in the late 60’s, but was re-introduced thanks to breeding done with individuals from zoos around the world!
Although hard, this part of Philippe’s trip is likely to be one of the most beautiful and fascinating episode in his Paris to Beijing Challenge.
Worldwide
