ASSIGNMENT | COMMERCIAL | The man who runs
“All the passions fall within the scope of madness”.
Take this quote of 1511 from Erasmo da Rotterdam and put it on a man, as if it was shorts and undershirt. 175 cm high, 63 k weight, 60 years old on the 26th of July, 2014. This is Lucio Bazzana and in his life he has spent the most of his time in running. He counts a lot of records: 9 in Italy (from the 48 h indoor to the 1.000 miles on the road), several convocations, 3 medals between european and world championships, and 39 finish lines at the 100km del Passatore. Until his last challenge: from the 30 of march to the 7 of september 2014, in the circular 400mt of the athletic field in Curno, near Bergamo, he has run continuously for 100 days, until he has reached the world record of 8.260,754 km, that means 20.651 field paths and 354 meters.
An incredible athletic challenge that the media and official federations have almost completely ignored, because they can’t believe it would be possible. This indifference just confirms the authenticity of Lucio and of his venture, so that in his candid purity he demonstrates how the exploration is a direct consequence of curiosity and the value of each gesture is not related to business. money or popularity.
With these motivations and with more or less 80 km of running each day, Bazzana has put himself on the line: with his shoes but above all with his mind. Running, like the other sports linked with endurance and individuality, is much more than a simple biomechanic gesture: it becomes emotional forms of relations with other people and with yourself.
“I was just looking for my limits, so that I would be able to say that there are no limits. Without any arrogance: everyone goes where his head tell him to go, before the heart. If your mind is turned off, you will not go anywhere… And then, look around, look how beautiful this moment: we are here, me and you, speaking in the middle of the night, running around this athletic field. When everything will be finished I’ll go on repeating: don’t take me out, let me here, I feel fine here. Out from this island of happiness, or of pain for someone, in the world there is war …”
