The Need for Speed

Mali

India 

It’s a great art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is.
It’s a symphony of  motion.
And when you’re rowing well
Why it’s nearing perfection
And when you
reach perfection
You’re touching the divine.
It touches the you of you’s
Which is your soul.
~George Pocock

India

 Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan

Mizoram, India

I ran and ran every day, and I acquired a sense of determination,
this sense of spirit that I would never, never, give up, no matter what else happened.
- Wilma Rudolph, Winner of three gold medals at the Olympic Games

Tibet

Mauritania

India

With the catching ends the pleasure of the chase.
- Abraham Lincoln

Tibet

Burma

Walking on fire has existed for thousands of years, with records dating back to 1200 B.C.
It is used to demonstrate faith, healing, and rites of initiation.
David A. Willey, Firewalking Myth vs. Physics

Sri Lanka

Italy

I always loved running… it was something you could do by yourself,
and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted,
fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet
and the courage of your lungs.

- Jesse Owens, Winner of four gold medals at the Olympic Games

  Jodhpur, India

Cambodia

Mali

The five S’s of sports training are:
Stamina, Speed, Strength, Skill and Spirit;
but the greatest of these is Spirit.
- Ken Doherty

Bangladesh 

 India

 Bamiyan, Afghanistan

 Afghanistan
The ancient game of Buzkashi, Afghanistan’s national sport

Buzkashi
Rearing, wheeling, plunging,
urged by leather-booted heels –
a rugby scrum of horses.
Whips and hooves, knife sharp,
slice frozen winter air as rising dust
meets sweat and steaming breath.
Laws of gravity ignored, a horseman leans,
crazy-angled, reins between clenched teeth,
and grabs the goat.

Men and animals scream defiance,
the maelstrom melts, dissolves –
a tidal wave of horses.
Thundering hooves become
thudding heartbeats, spectators roar approval,
ancestral memories stirred
by sounds and scents of victory.
No longer taxi drivers, labourers, shopkeepers,
they are Genghis Khan’s army streaming –
invincible – across Asia’s plains…
- Mary Smith

 Texas, USA

A horse can lend its rider the speed and strength he or she lacks,
but the rider who is wise remembers it is no more than a loan.
- Pam Brown

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