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| Tarahumara Runners of the Copper Canyon |
Original post by Doug "Diego" Rhodes via calnative.com
The Tarahumara
Indians of Mexico’s Copper Canyon have long been acknowledged as the
world’s greatest long distance runners. Their reputation was recently
popularized by the May 2009 publication of Christopher McDougall’s book
“Born to Run.” Much of the book focuses on the exploits of Micah True,
an American runner who spent a good deal of time running with the
Tarahumara and founding the Copper Canyon ultra-marathon race in the
bottom of the canyon. In March of 2012 True, known in the canyons as
“Caballo Blanco,” died on a solo run in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness. As
a tribute to True, we asked our good friend Doug Rhodes,
an American outdoor adventurer, owner of Copper Canyon’s Paraiso del
Oso Lodge and long-time resident of Mexico’s Sierra Madre, to share some
of his memories of “Caballo Blanco” with us.
The following is a collection of a remembrances, sort of the way Micah was, all jumbled up.
Riding my mule towards
Batopilas
many years back, I encountered a goofy looking gringo wearing running
shorts about the size of my bandanna. Bare-chested and running in the
hot sun, my suspicions of this guy’s sanity were confirmed when he
introduced himself as the “Caballo Blanco” (White Horse) and let out a
whinny to prove it. Little did I realize then that guy and I would share
trails, tears, and experiences and that we would become friends,
indeed, more than friends.
One of my favorite recollections is when he asked to join us heading
to our ranch at Los Alisos from Batopilas. We’d just finished a pack
trip and had a small herd of horses to take across the mountains. Little
did we realize that the lead horse would be this long-legged gringo
known as Caballo Blanco. Now, our prize Appaloosa “Andy” is the Alpha or
lead horse of the pack, a critter not known to take second place to
anyone. Imagine our surprise when Andy fell in behind Micah, trotting
down the trail with Micah in the lead, Andy right behind Micah and all
the other horses trotting behind them. Micah kept looking back over his
shoulder at the pack. When he zigged, the horses zigged as they did when
he zagged or slowed down. It was an unbelievable sight; we nearly fell
out of our saddles laughing.
Another time Prospero Torres and I sponsored a faina to work on the trail above Los Alisos. (Note: A faina is a communal work project with food, fermented corn tesguino,
and sometimes dancing after the work is finished.) Micah showed up and
worked hard all day alongside the Tarahumara men. That night he ate as
usual, like a horse. Then the dancing started, Micah could not quite get
a hang on the traditional dancing so, as was his habit, he just did his
own thing, a sort of 1920s type thing where one places their hands on
their knees, brings the knees together and swaps positions of the hands
over the knees. His dancing embarrassed the heck out of me but the
Tarahumara laughed and loved it. Micah had a way of doing the strangest
things and getting people to love him for it.
Back about 2001 or so, Micah got the wild idea of starting a marathon
from Urique to Batopilas to get the Tarahumara people running again
and, knowing him, just for the fun of it. Several of us helped him out
as we could but most of the funding came out of Micah’s pocket and set
the trend for future races. Micah never had much; material things seemed
not to matter to him, but he shared what he had with friends and for
what he believed in and he sure believed in his race.
The May 2009 publication of the book “Born to Run” catapulted both Micah and his race to virtual legendary status.
