Dispatch: Ben Hammond’s Victory Dream

In this edition of “Dispatch,” Holly Bennett reports from Challenge Taiwan. Check out the “Dispatch” page for more from the race.

One of the professional athletes racing here in Taitung is 25-year-old Australian Ben Hammond. Despite the fact that Saturday’s race will be Hammond’s long-distance debut, he’s managing to keep his pre-race nerves to a relative minimum and his excitement high. Whether or not he has the talent to win the inaugural Challenge Taiwan will become clear on race day. Meanwhile, however, Hammond’s subconscious mind is creatively confident. On the way to swim practice this morning, amidst goodhearted giggles, he recounted the dream he had last night:

“I had a dream that I actually won the race. But the locals didn’t really like it so they started to try to take me out and tackle me and beat me with sticks me in the last few kilometers! So I ran up a bridge and then to get ’round them I went down a slippery slide. And then I ran to the finish line, but they hadn’t set up the finish line yet, so one guy just said, ‘OK, you can just run past me and you’ll win.’ So I won the race! Yeah, I’d just like to thank my family and Michael Dhulst, who’s a fantastic race director. All the Challenge events are incredible, the best in the world–and unique of course!”

RELATED PHOTOS: Challenge Taiwan Run Course

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