Only three years ago, foreign travel and winning the world’s biggest trail races seemed like a fantasy for Yao Miao.
is like being an athlete at a D1 sports college.wanted me, and I did not have money to go to university,” Yao Miao remembers. “I felt useless. I received no education, had no skills and no money, no way to earn a good living. I felt that I already failed even though I was only 20. Apart from running, I could not do anything. I felt I had no future.
She took another gamble—an even harder ultra, the 2016 Gongga 100, again at high altitude, again in a Tibetan area. Gongga is especially punishing. The course, which spans altitudes between 8,000 and 15,000 feet, is often submerged in freezing fog with snow covering the trail on the high passes. Combined elevation gain and loss stand at 32,000 feet.
Qi Min quickly won over Yao Miao, becoming her boyfriend, training partner, and coach. When asked what drew her to him, she blushes. “It’s not because he is a fast runner or good-looking,” she says. “He seemed like a good person.”Kyle Obermanna small, ancient town in southwest China that occupies the gap between a large lake and the 16,000-foot-high Cangshan Mountain range.
“China can go straight to hell and nobody should trust any records they break,” read one Facebook comment. “[Chinese] are simply testing the latest doping technology in a non-Olympic sport to see what they can away with,” read another. There was no denying the pair were fast. But the running community viewed Yao Miao and Qi Min as mass-produced road runners, leveraging their only asset—speed. Critics said they lacked the true pedigree and appreciation of the mountains and the sport.
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