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Live Saturday morning global sports show with reports, debate and humour

Live Saturday morning global sports show with reports, debate and humour.

Sportshour: The Marathon Man

The Marathon Man

25/04/2015

BBC World Service - Sportshour, The Marathon Man

The man taking a break from the 5000 km Race Across the USA to run the London Marathon

The man taking a break from the 5000 km Race Across the USA to run the London Marathon.

Completing the London Marathon is tough enough, but imagine doing it having stepped straight off a plane that has carried you from the middle of the 5000 kilometre Race Across the USA. Then imagine you need to complete the London Marathon as quickly as you can, because you have a flight back. After all you do not want to lose your lead on the American leg of your marathon challenge! This is the world of Rob Young, the Marathon Man who joined us live during one of his marathons. Earlier this month he broke the world record for the most marathons run in a year - 370! 

Paralympic Countdown: 500 Days
Sunday marks 500 days until the opening ceremony of the Paralympics in Rio. Kone Oumar is the only person ever to win Paralympic gold for Ivory Coast but since his last victory in Sydney in 2000 they have not won a paralympic medal of any colour. Kone, now a coach, has been speaking to Sportshour’s Ed Harry at the national stadium in Abidjan, to asses if anything has changed for African competitors since the London Paralympics. Or are social and cultural stigmatism and a chronic lack of funding and support still holding progress back.

Hand-in-Hand
This year is the 35th London Marathon. The very first race in 1981 was won, jointly, by Dick Beardsley of the United States, and Norway's Inge Simonsen after they crossed the line hand-in-hand. They have been recalling that remarkable day and their wish to do it again this year, albeit unrealistic! 

Tom Poynton
The new English county cricket season has started and it marks, for one player in particular, an emotional return to the crease. Derbyshire's Tom Poynton spent a year recovering from a broken leg sustained in a car accident that killed his father. Sam Sheringham has been speaking to the batsman about a recovery that was about much more than the healing of broken bones.

Indian Crowdfunding
Cricket’s Indian Premier League is in full flow and its stars are earning millions of dollars. But when it comes to other sports in India, competitors can struggle to raise enough funds to compete. Now some athletes have found a new way to keep their game on track - crowdfunding.

Horsing Around
In the last of our series exploring the world of horse breeding we unpick all the scientific and expert evidence we have gathered, with a story that proves absolutely anybody can own and train a champion race horse!

Sporting Witness
At the 1976 Olympics, the Cuban track star Alberto Juantorena pulled off a unique double by winning both the 400 and 800 metres – a feat that’s now considered virtually impossible. Known as 'White Lightning', we went to Havana to visit Juantorena, a legend on the Communist island.

(Photo: Rob Young, the Marathon Man, completes another marathon. Credit: @MarathonManUK)

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