Tambora and Super Man

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Runners participating in the 2019 Kompas Tambora Challenge 320K ultramarathon start get ready at the starting point in Poto Tano, West Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, on May 1. The fifth Kompas Tambora Challenge ultramarathon was attended by 55 runners from across Indonesia.

Three hundred and twenty kilometers is almost as far as the distance between Jakarta and Pemalang. By plane it can be flown in about 45 minutes; in a car it takes five to six hours.

How about running it in a marathon? In terms of distance, this is included in the ultramarathon category because it is 7.6 times the length of a full marathon, which is "only" 42 km. Indeed, it is an extraordinary challenge.

This is what the participants of the Tambora Challenge, which is organized by Kompas daily, have answered. This annual program started in 2015, corresponding with the 200th anniversary of the massive Mount Tambora eruption in 1815.

This year there are 24 individual runners (for a distance of 320 km) and 31 relay runners (for twice 160 km). The time limit is 68 hours in the individual category and 64 hours in the relay run. The runners started the race in Pototano Field, West Sumbawa regency on Wednesday (1/5/2019) at 3 p.m. and ended the race in Doro Ncanga Field, Dompu regency, at the foot of Mount Tambora, on Saturday (4/5) morning.

As we read in the news, a number of runners fell on the second day of the race. However, we are fascinated that finally a number of runners reached the finish line and broke records. The champion was Hendra Siswanto, 39, from Jakarta who completed the Tambora Challenge this year with a time of 55 hours 56 minutes, defeating last year\'s record of 62 hours 26 minutes held by William Beanjay.

We applaud and appreciate the participants of this competition. They are physically excellent. More than that, they are also high-spirited people, having strong determination and being able to harness all of the body\'s ability to achieve a goal.

In this all-scientific era, the runners might apply science to prepare themselves, equip themselves with energy, calculate running rhythms and so on. Runners also naturally prepare themselves with discipline and may have been preparing a year in advance. They must also adapt their everyday lives to the situation.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Runner Octavian Quasaalmy runs through Kwangko village in Manggelewa district, Sumbawa Besar, West Nusa Tenggara, during the 2019 Kompas Tambora Challenge 320K ultramarathon on May 2. Okta, who took part in the relay category by pairing with Jumardi, lead the ultramarathon on its second day.

On this day, Monday (6/5), Hendra assured us that sports science is true and applicable. His prediction was extraordinarily accurate: Between what he planned and what he achieved there was only one minute difference.

We who are inspired to improve our sporting achievements after the 2018 Asian Games should practice sports science while training.

For Kompas, the Tambora Challenge also contains a vision for other than sports: strengthening the understanding of being Indonesian. The setting in Tambora strongly echoes the message that the Indonesian people must always remember they are a nation that lives in the Ring of Fire, which provides beauty and fertility, but also risks that need a scientific response. For this, the Tambora Challenge wants to contribute to nation- and character-building.