Trots hit Rio runner

Hyderabad: All the way from Rio in Brazil, comes a rather messy lesson for those busy preparing for the upcoming Hyderabad Marathon, on August 28.

On Friday, Olympian race-walker Yohann Diniz was caught on camera defecating mid-walk and attempting to soak up the fecal matter in his shorts using a sponge.

Diniz, a world record holder in the category, was leading the pack when news cameras caught him struggling about 45 minutes into the race. A few minutes later, he was forced to stop and cameras zoomed into his back to show brown-coloured fluid leaking out of his shorts.

The announcers were quick to call it “intense intestinal problems” but amazingly, Diniz got back on his feet as competing race walkers urged him on. He eventually finished despite his pace being cut down to a walk.

Early reports blamed pre-race food but experts said a very common but sinister force was responsible for Diniz’s rout in Rio. It’s called Runner’s Trots and science has it that up to 70 per cent of long-distance runners have experienced such diarrhoea.

“There is major movement of the intestines. Add high stress and reduced blood flow to the intestines from the running and you have all the factors that could trigger such an event,” says marathoner Dr Chandra Sekhar Ramineni.

Intestinal violence is not new to distance running. Briton Paula Radcliffe had to famously stop by the side of the road before the finish line at the 2005 London Marathon. But Radcliffe wiped away the embarrassment and went on to win the race.

“I was looking and looking and looking for a toilet and I would have had to climb a barrier to go — and I couldn’t envisage being able to climb a barrier at that point. I don’t regret it because I won,” she said later.

The 2015 edition of the London Marathon also saw Indian-origin Kiran Gandhi  running the 42-kilometre-long stretch despite her periods. Gandhi’s bloodied pants (pictured) had come under heavy fire at the time but again, she finished.

And that brings us to the other aspect of competition running — determination. “At Diniz’s level, one experiences huge stress — on mind and body. Ultra-marathoners are known to have wet their pants due to the exertion,” says Samuel Sudhakar Rao of Hyderabad Runners, organisers of the upcoming August 28 Airtel Marathon.

“Also, he’s a world away from his diet and choice of food — which are very important,” adds Rao.But the world is all praise for Diniz. The sight of his wet shorts crossing the finish line sent Twitter into a cheering frenzy. “Yohann Diniz, you are brave. We salute you... from a distance,” read one cheeky tweet.