Running 200 kilometers blindfolded, that is the striking mission of Björn van Loon (36) from Waspik. He wants to break the world record for his blind daughter Maja. “When I think of her, it’s easy.”
“You have to do it completely by ear. No one is allowed to touch you,” is how Björn describes the Achilles’ heel of his 24-hour ultra run. That is why there is always a buddy in front of him with a bell on his bag. “So I literally have to trust him blindly,” he jokes.
The previous record is 80 kilometers, but he wants to go 2.5 times as far. “I really want to put something that you can’t easily get over.” The great inspiration for his striking mission is his 6-year-old daughter. “It’s so sad when you hear that your child is blind,” he says emotionally.
She has Leber’s hereditary condition Amaurosis congenita (LCA). It took three months for the girl to receive the correct diagnosis. “As a parent, you want clarity as soon as possible. I know couples who have broken up due to such stress around their child.” Even specialized hospitals were at a loss.
The Bartiméus fund did make the correct diagnosis and that is why Björn now wants to collect money for it with his record attempt for the Guinness Book of Records. In this way, other visually impaired and blind parents and children can also be helped. “The blindfold fits the purpose nicely.”
“I hope she’s proud of me.”
For moments when he doesn’t like it anymore, he already has thoughts ready. “I’m doing it for my daughter. I hope she’s proud of me. She often shouts very happily: ‘That’s my daddy!’ when I do something tough.”
Next Saturday at nine o’clock he will start on an athletics track in Ede. Every hour he will run exactly 8.5 kilometers, followed by rest. “Then you can take off the blindfold, otherwise you will go crazy.” So he does that 24 times in a row. “Then I lie on the couch with a lot of muscle pain, but my daughter will climb on top of me to cuddle,” he laughs.
“It’s getting out of hand.”
“It’s getting out of hand,” laughs the ultrarunner. “I already have more than 80 people as crew or buddies who run along. Those are actually the real crazy ones,” he jokes. “That support is really wonderful.”
He noticed how that support can be when walking the 498-kilometer Pieterpad in 2021. That is the most famous long-distance route in the Netherlands. “A complete stranger then brought me a can of coke. He shouted: ‘Aren’t you that Bjorn from that action?’ Fortunately, you also have people who want to help the world move forward.”
Still, after the blindfolded adventure, it doesn’t stop for Björn. He wants to run the Marathon des Sables in 2024. This is a grueling journey of 250 kilometers through the Sahara, which is organized annually in Morocco.
He wants to raise a total of 100,000 euros with the two actions. “After that I want even bigger. I always keep dreaming.” He concludes with a laugh: “All that running makes you look at the world differently.”
