Latest news with #RatRace
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'I sang Dolly Parton to win 100-mile ultra-marathon'
A Scottish ultra-runner finished so far ahead in a 100-mile race that she was already home by the time the rest of the field crossed the line. Anna Rutherford ran the inaugural Rat Race between Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland and Edinburgh Castle in 17 hours and 23 minutes – more than two hours ahead of the closest male competitor. The mother-of-three told how she sang Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 to keep herself going during the race and diverted to check if a man flat on his back on a golf course was ok. However, the lawyer, 43, still managed to finish fast enough that she was driven back home to Peebles by her parents when the other 600 competitors arrived in the early hours of Sunday. Anna, originally from Milngavie, near Glasgow, began the race in the grounds of Bamburgh Castle at about 07:00 on Saturday and crossed the finish line just after 00:30 on Sunday. The route followed the east coast through Berwickshire, the Borders and East Lothian before reaching the finish at the Ross Bandstand in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens. Stock cubes help runner smash 212-mile route record First woman completes one of world's toughest races Anna said she only overtook the man leading the race before her about half-way through, meaning she ran the final 50 miles by herself and finished two hours ahead of the fist male and five ahead of the first female. She said she took to singing Dolly Parton's country hit as she ran up the Royal Mile towards the finish, before heading home to sleep. "I was singing 9 to 5 running up the Royal Mile and everyone was singing along with me," she told BBC Scotland News. "Because the race finished in Princes Street Gardens, you couldn't make a lot of noise, so I collected my medal and my parents had waited at the finish line for me. "It was beyond my wildest dreams to run 100 miles in that time. But I just went home and went straight to bed." At one point, while she was passing a golf course near Gullane in East Lothian, Anna spotted a man lying on his back and went to check on him. "He said he was just 'looking at the stars' so I had to crack on," she said. Anna said she went through an intense training period leading up to the race, which led to a hospital visit after she began experiencing headaches and feeling faint. She said she was running about 120 miles (193km) a week at the height of her training schedule. Stock cubes, pretzels and Paris Anna previously shattered the women's record for running the Southern Upland Way in 2021, completing the 212-mile course from Portpatrick to Cockburnspath in 62 hours and 34 minutes. Back then, she credited eating stock cubes provided by a support van with helping her to complete the cross-country route. This time, she said she mixed stock powder with pretzels and took on gels and hydration at 10-mile stopping points along the route. However, she managed to miss one feeding point, where she had stashed some hydration gels and a note of support from her son. She said she took inspiration from hero and Barkley Marathon finisher, Jasmine Paris, to overcome the mental blocks on the run. She said: "It doesn't matter what the distance is, about 70 or 80% of the way through, it is going to feel really hard because you've done the hardest bit, you are getting tired, but there is still a long way to go. "In a way, I just embraced it. There's a lot of really, really good ultra-runners out there, who talk about the psychology of getting into this pain cave and just knowing that and almost looking forward to it. "Someone like Jasmine Paris, her saying 'just watch me' before she did the Barkley Marathons, I found that very humbling." Anna also praised the organisers, Rat Race Adventures, for creating female-specific provisions at each of the stopping point. She said she hoped her race could help prove that women can "close the gap" when it comes to endurance sport. "I'm 43, I'm perimenopausal, I'm on HRT, that massively affects your hormones and that has a massive impact," she said. "I got my period on Friday and I was very aware that I was wearing light-coloured leggings, but at every checkpoint, they had female-specific toilets with sanitary products. "I think it just shows women do these things too. Women are not just little men. They have their own specific needs, but they were being catered to and I really loved that."
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Scottish runner finishes ultra-marathon two hours ahead of competitors
A Scottish ultra-runner finished so far ahead in a 100-mile race that she was already home by the time the rest of the field crossed the Rutherford ran the inaugural Rat Race between Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland and Edinburgh Castle in 17 hours and 23 minutes – more than two hours ahead of the closest male mother-of-three told how she sang Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 to keep herself going during the race and diverted to check if a man flat on his back on a golf course was the lawyer, 43, still managed to finish fast enough that she was driven back home to Peebles by her parents when the other 600 competitors arrived in the early hours of Sunday. Anna, originally from Milngavie, near Glasgow, began the race in the grounds of Bamburgh Castle at about 07:00 on Saturday and crossed the finish line just after 00:30 on route followed the east coast through Berwickshire, the Borders and East Lothian before reaching the finish at the Ross Bandstand in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens. Anna said she only overtook the man leading the race before her about half-way through, meaning she ran the final 50 miles by herself and finished two hours ahead of the fist male and five ahead of the first said she took to singing Dolly Parton's country hit as she ran up the Royal Mile towards the finish, before heading home to sleep."I was singing 9 to 5 running up the Royal Mile and everyone was singing along with me," she told BBC Scotland News."Because the race finished in Princes Street Gardens, you couldn't make a lot of noise, so I collected my medal and my parents had waited at the finish line for me."It was beyond my wildest dreams to run 100 miles in that time. But I just went home and went straight to bed." At one point, while she was passing a golf course near Gullane in East Lothian, Anna spotted a man lying on his back and went to check on him."He said he was just 'looking at the stars' so I had to crack on," she said she went through an intense training period leading up to the race, which led to a hospital visit after she began experiencing headaches and feeling said she was running about 120 miles (193km) a week at the height of her training schedule. Stock cubes, pretzels and Paris Anna previously shattered the women's record for running the Southern Upland Way in 2021, completing the 212-mile course from Portpatrick to Cockburnspath in 62 hours and 34 then, she credited eating stock cubes provided by a support van with helping her to complete the cross-country time, she said she mixed stock powder with pretzels and took on gels and hydration at 10-mile stopping points along the she managed to miss one feeding point, where she had stashed some hydration gels and a note of support from her said she took inspiration from hero and Barkley Marathon finisher, Jasmine Paris, to overcome the mental blocks on the said: "It doesn't matter what the distance is, about 70 or 80% of the way through, it is going to feel really hard because you've done the hardest bit, you are getting tired, but there is still a long way to go."In a way, I just embraced it. There's a lot of really, really good ultra-runners out there, who talk about the psychology of getting into this pain cave and just knowing that and almost looking forward to it."Someone like Jasmine Paris, her saying 'just watch me' before she did the Barkley Marathons, I found that very humbling." Anna also praised the organisers, Rat Race Adventures, for creating female-specific provisions at each of the stopping said she hoped her race could help prove that women can "close the gap" when it comes to endurance sport."I'm 43, I'm perimenopausal, I'm on HRT, that massively affects your hormones and that has a massive impact," she said."I got my period on Friday and I was very aware that I was wearing light-coloured leggings, but at every checkpoint, they had female-specific toilets with sanitary products."I think it just shows women do these things too. Women are not just little men. They have their own specific needs, but they were being catered to and I really loved that."
Daily Maverick
28-04-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
Another world is possible — Bob Nameng, the Soul Rebel of Kliptown
Unlike many activists, Bob Nameng had never left his community, despite the ample opportunities that come to someone with his charisma and spirit. He realised that escaping poverty often meant escaping the poor, leaving people to the elements of poverty. For him, people's power was not a slogan, but a mission that could be practised every day. 'The father of Kliptown', Soweto, Bob Nameng (1 July 1970-19 April 2025), is no more. Bob died at his home, on the rutted, potholed street opposite the unguarded railway line and a few minutes' walk from the dilapidated house that was once the home of Charlotte Maxeke. Bob Nameng was a giant, perhaps the true inheritor of the spirit and values that had animated the gathering in Kliptown Square in 1955 that drew up the Freedom Charter. Bob's full history must be recovered by a historian, and I'm sorry it didn't happen when he was alive. The little I know is that his adoptive mother was Auntie Eva Mokoka, the famous people's nurse and 'lady of the lamp' of Kliptown, and that Bob attributed his ethics and values to her presence in his life. His other ever-present inspiration was Bob Marley, who he constantly quoted and whose life and practices he emulated, although for health reasons he stopped smoking the weed two years ago. The last time I spoke to Bob was on Marley's 80th birthday on 6 February to discuss recording a podcast about how Marley's songs of freedom had influenced a generation of activists. I was thinking of bringing together Bob, Charles Leonard, Robert McBride and Andrew Kasrils. Sadly, it was not to be. Rat race I got to know Bob properly in 2024. We were introduced because of his lifetime of community activism, particularly inspiring and uplifting children, and our shared love of Bob Marley. The first time I entered his house, on Union Avenue, it was like entering a magical grotto, adorned with murals, Bob Marley regalia, rastafarian colours and the bric-a-brac of everyday life. Bob's garage-cum-living room was an open community space, where elders and children always gathered to eat, to talk and for his weekly Sunday school. Bob's memorial on 24 April was held at the Kliptown Youth Programme (KYP), an offshoot of Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY), the organisation Bob had created many years ago. It was packed to the rafters with community members. KYP is itself a wonder. A compact educational campus, situated in the middle of the informal settlement, providing daily after-school lessons to nearly a thousand children from the surrounding community. It also doubles up as a food kitchen, computer centre, library and community venue. The people who run it are alumni of the school of Nameng. Under a banner with a picture of Bob and a slogan proclaiming 'in an abundance of water the fool is thirsty', part of the lyrics of Marley's song, Rat Race, speaker after speaker recounted how he had put them on paths to success. I watched the rapturous dance and song of young graduates of SKY. I felt his spirit. I could see him in different people. It felt like a family reunion. Bob had literally grown this community. Through a mixture of conversation, sport, inspiration, he had helped young people mired in poverty to find the riches in themselves. Preaching love. The two Bob's philosophies are that while poverty and inequality is imposed from without, it is possible to find dignity and possibility within. 'In an abundance of water the fool is thirsty' means just that. But I also decided that the lyric is a criticism of greed: when there's enough for everyone, why do the elites manufacture scarcity by wanting to own it all themselves? At the memorial, regardless of the surrounding poverty, indignity and squalour, a strong spirit of social cohesion and resilience pervaded the hall. One young man talked of how Bob had helped him escape his drug addiction. A young actor declared that although he has escaped the ghetto, he is still 'Proudly Kliptown.' A gogo dressed in religious robes told me how Bob had helped overcome her trauma of rape as I child. Another how she had started a foundation, 'empowered by bab Bob, named Botswalle – the Sisterhood Youth Foundation.' I realised that the connection Bob had established with me was not unique. It was something he shared with anyone who sought his friendship or counsel. 'Never let a politician Grant you a favour He will always want to Control you forever' — Marley For all of his adult life, Bob lived in Kliptown, but his reputation travelled much further. Occasionally, he ventured overseas, accepting invitations to give TED talks and other speeches. However, unlike many activists, Bob had never left his community, despite the ample opportunities that come to someone with his charisma and spirit. He realised that escaping poverty also means escaping the poor and leaving people alone to the elements of poverty. For him, 'power to the people' was not a slogan, but a mission that could be practised every day. Based on what he saw of the abandonment of the people of Kliptown by the government and the ANC, he was deeply sceptical of party politics and politicians. Last year, in the run-up to the general election, Bob preached about the need for a new politics, based on honesty, integrity and community service. But while he was open to new parties like Change Starts Now and Rise Mzansi, he left the practice of politics and its easy rhetoric to others. Bob lived in the community, and the community lived in Bob. As one speaker said, 'Bob didn't die, he multiplied'. In the world after Nameng, my hope is that those he knew and inspired will pick up his message and continue his quest for dignity and equality for Kliptown. DM
CBS News
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Comedian Paul Rodriguez arrested in Burbank for drug possession
Paul Rodriguez, a longtime comedian known for movies like "Tortilla Soup" and "Rat Race," was arrested on Friday for alleged possession of narcotics, according to police. He was arrested at around 7:30 p.m. when officers conducted a traffic stop of a car near Victory Boulevard and Lamer Street, according to the Burbank Police Department. They say that Rodriguez was a passenger of the car. "During the investigation, narcotics were located," said a statement from BPD. "Mr. Rodriguez was arrested and booked at Burbank Police Jail for possession of narcotics." He was released with a citation and ordered to appear in court on April 25, police said. Rodriguez, 70, is best known for his stand-up comedy and acting career. He has starred in a number of comedy movies like "A Million to Juan," "Born in East L.A.," and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." He is also a part-owner of the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, where he is well-regarded for his charity work that includes serving holiday meals to people in need.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedian Paul Rodriguez arrested, accused of narcotics possession in Burbank
Comedian and actor Paul Rodriguez was arrested after police allegedly found narcotics in his vehicle during a traffic stop on Friday night in Burbank. Burbank Police Sgt. Stephen Turner said Rodriguez, 70, was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped for "code violations" at around 7:30 p.m. in the area of Victory Boulevard and Lamer Street. "During the investigation, narcotics were located," Turner said in a statement. Rodriguez was booked at the Burbank jail for possession of narcotics and released with a citation to appear in court next month, Turner said. Read more: 'Ugly Betty' alum Eric Mabius arrested on suspicion of battery in Florida bar brawl Rodriguez is telling a different version of the story. He told TMZ that he was sleeping in the passenger seat when a "Caucasian" officer on a "power trip" slapped him to wake him up. Rodriguez told the outlet that the drugs belonged to the driver of the vehicle. Bobby Samini, his attorney, called the charges against Rodriguez false, and said his arrest and treatment by police were a "violation of his civil rights." "He fully cooperated with law enforcement at all times," Samini said in a statement. "Law enforcement asserted that the driver of the vehicle was in possession of a controlled substance. Mr. Rodriguez did not have any controlled substance in his possession, nor was he under the influence of any controlled substance." Rodriguez, the son of a migrant farm worker, was born in Mexico before moving to East Los Angeles in his youth. His career in stand-up began in L.A. comedy clubs in the late 1970s. Rodriguez's work includes writing and acting in dozens of films, including his own stand-up comedy specials. He also hosted television shows on Univision and MTV. He is known for his roles in such movies as "Blood Work," "Rat Race," "The World's Fastest Indian" and "Tortilla Soup." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
