Last Man standing – BBC3
Dropped on a very interesting programme on BBC3 last night.
The “last man standing” is a reality TV show featuring 6 endurance athletes from the english speaking world. They include a strongman, a professional rock climber, a BMX racer and a fitness instructor.
They travel to remote parts of the world taking on the locals at their own traditional tribal games.
I missed the first two episodes but (in best reality TV tradition, much of this weeks episode was made up of “flashbacks”) last nights was of special interest.
The highlands of Mexico feature a form of running where participants not only run around a course but kick a small wooden ball ahead of them at all times. The terrain is impossible with rocks, poisonous spiders and rattlesnakes around every corner.
As if that wasn’t enough, tradition dictates that runners use homemade sandals made out of old car tyres and rubber laces.
Some of the lads had difficulty kicking the ball but the local youngsters certainly showed them how to do it….
The lads were split into 2 teams with the locals from 2 rival clubs and soon dropped off the pace. Strongman Brad had difficulty running but showed just how far the human body can go on pure guts.
The ending was a bit of a let down. The course was 1 mile long and the race was 27 laps.
After 11 laps, one team had lapped the other twice and the lapped team resigned defeat leaving the “last man standing” awarded when 3 were actually still standing and the course less than half done.
More information is here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/lastmanstanding/episodes/episode3.shtml
I read about this program in “Outside” Magazine, I think they gave it a poor review, but I have yet to catch it on the tele!
You can watch highlights on the BBC iPlayer on the link above. (I think worldwide not just UK)
The program was interesting to runners (despite it being standard reality TV fare). I won’t be tuning in this week as it about kick fighting in India…
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