THE ROAD TO BEIJING - Marathon Running Documentary - LAST UPDATED 21th Oct.

The Road to Beijing Project started with the simple premise of how far a 16 stone obese documentary film maker could progress in a two year period with the ultimate goal of attempting to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games. The documentary soon evolved based of the staggering statistics that 102 British marathon runners ran under the 2:20 mark in 1985 while only 5 runners managed the same feat in 2007. In 2007 over 600 Ethiopian and Kenyan runners ran under this time and potential this figure could have been hundreds more if others were given the opportunity to travel.

The documentary delves into the reasons behind this dramatic decline which is in direct contrast to the rise of the East African runners. To illustrate the subject matter further the documentary follows the stories of exceptionally talented British runner Ben Moreau, an Oxford graduate and the equally talent former Ethiopian goat herder Mengsitu Abebe.
 

"END OF THE FILMING"

On Sunday the cameras powered down and the filming for the documentary culminated. For 2 years and 10 months the camera's have rolled on the project and some of the most amazing footage has been captured of people and countries all over the world.

Ben ran a great time of 2:22 at the ING AMSTERDAM MARATHON which saw blustery conditions and a number of the Kenyan and Ethiopian runners dropping out of the race. It was Ben's debut marathon and lays down his credentials as a potential candidate for 2012. Thanks also to the team at ING Amsterdam Marathon for providing a motorbike for the race.

Over the next few months the documentary will go into postproduction and with a number of interviews lined up should be completed in a first draft format by early next year. Thanks for all those who have followed the project. It's been testing at times but even those who have been critical, I can assure you that you will enjoy the documentary.
 

PROJECT ETHOS

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt