'Longest and toughest marathon in my life'

Posted by simon on 12/7/2006 on simon's blog

World Mountain Race Grand Prix 2006 winner Anna Pichrtova was one of four people lucky to escape with their lives after a Jeep they were travelling in overturned in the Nigerian bush en route to the Obudu International Mountain Race last month.

Czechoslovakian Anna, 33, the European mountain running champion, has been training in Boulder, CO, this year and finished first in the US Mountain Running Championship on Mount Washington in June. The Obudu race favorite, she was too injured to run.

Flying back to Prague from Nigeria, she went straight to hospital from the airport -- and straight into surgery. She is now recovering from her injuries and hoping to start running again in January.

In an email to her many friends in the Boulder TrailRunners group she said: "I had to have a difficult seven-hour surgery on my right arm and both collarbones. I've had a total of seven fractures and can only use my left arm. They've had to put about 2lb of titanium to my arm and collarbones.

"All this doesn't sound good", she said, "but I am actually lucky to be alive with healthy legs and spine.

"This terrible experience was the longest and toughest marathon in my life. I've never experienced so much suffering. It's going to take a time to come back to running, but I think I am strong enough."

Also hurt in the accident was Polish elite Izabella Zatorska, who was also hospitalised and missed the race. Former world champion Melissa Moon of New Zealand and Danny Hughes, president of the World Mountain Running Association, were also passengers but were "relatively uninjured", as Danny put it.

* Danny's report on the race is on the IAAF website here.

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5 comments

Patty M says:

Thanks for sharing that story. It shows how life can change so quickly and to be thankful to be healthy and running. I remember standing next to her a couple years ago at the Boulder Bolder race. She won the Citizens race by about 2 minutes over Diane Bussa. At the starting line Diane was really angry that an "elite" runner was in the Citizens race. She told her right before the start of the race that her race was in a couple hours, meaning when the elite Boulder Bolder race started. Anna doesn't speak english very well, so she didn't know what Diane was saying. Diane has come in 2nd in the Citizens race for several years in a row and wanted to win, so I guess I don't blame her for being mad. I came in 3rd.
What a tragedy! I hope she heals up soon.

by Patty M (not verified) on Sun, 2006-12-10 15:10

Diane Bussa says:

Hi, Patty - I am assuming this is Patty Murray.

I came across this while randomly surfing the web. I was shocked to say the least. What are you talking about? You must be mistaking me with someone else, as I never said a word to Anna about being on the starting line. In fact,I wouldn't know her if I saw her. While I do believe that runners who do it for a living and who are being paid and sponsored to race have no business in the citizen's race, I was far from 'angry' that she was there. Furthermore, I have been more than happy to finish runner-up to the elites over the years, as I always consider myself as having run a great race to be runner up to anyone in this race, and when it is an elite, I consider myself the true citizens winner. Get your facts straight before you slander someone on a blog. I never said a word to her, nor would I ever think of saying something like that to her. Must be the rumor mill of Boulder in full force.

by Diane Bussa (not verified) on Mon, 2007-08-06 02:19

simon says:

A fund to help Anna has been launched. This just in from Buzz Burrell:

As you've heard, Anna was hurt in a terrible car crash in Nigeria.
She went there for a race, and while being transported in an official
car, the driver messed up, rolled it three times, and she ended up
with two broken collarbones, a dislocated elbow, and various other
trauma. After 7 hours of surgery back in the Czech Republic, she is
OK, but may not be able to run (and thus earn a living) for awhile.

http://www.wmra.info/newsdetail.php?id=162

Those of you who've met Anna know her as a person of pure positive
energy and light. Not only is she the best female mountain runner in
the world, but she is quite literally a joy to be around.

http://mountainrunningteam.com/bios/apichrtova.html

Lots of other people feel the same way. A fund has been set up out
of New Hampshire to gather donations to help get her back on her
feet. We can contribute via credit card (easy!), Pay-Pal, or check:

www.whitemountainmilers.com/annap

I feel the emotional energy embodied in a contribution is of equal
benefit to the money. It's a way of saying we really care, value and
support the kind of person she is, and want to see her again.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!

http://www.whitemountainmilers.com/annap/

by simon on Wed, 2006-12-13 05:39

What the... says:

Are you out of your mind, referencing Gibbens of Powerrunning?

http://www.yourrunning.com/blog-how_to_run_faster_the_debate_continues

You do realize this is a guy (a self-professed exercise physiologist) who's interpretation of physiology is so bad, he claims people routinely run marathons at an RPE of 10 (on a 10 point scale). His own training has beaten him up so bad, he can barely run anymore. He scours the internet (his sole methodology of 'research') for studies that tell us nothing more than why sharpening and tapering works (except he claims this should be full time training). If you really want to let your credibility take a big nose dive, reference Dickie and his junk site as a source of information.

by What the... (not verified) on Mon, 2007-03-12 03:31

simon says:

Thanks for sharing.

You have a strange idea about "credibility"; mine does not suffer from looking at and assessing sources of information, however bizarre YOU might think they are.

If you read the original thread (why are you commenting on the end of this totally unrelated one, by the way?) you will see an in-depth discussion of what I and others think Richard Gibbens has to offer, or not. You will also see us uncovering some of the real issues that are more worthy of comment.

by simon on Mon, 2007-03-12 05:07