Julia Interviews - An Athlete Forever

Interview With Nikos Kalofiris

I met with Nikos Kalofiris, Yannis Tsipouris, and Dean Pellis the day after the URSA trail race in Metsovo.

Yannis and Dean speak English and as Nikos and I do not speak one another's language we needed some help to communicate. What ensued over the next few hours, with Yannis's very skillfull translation, was a very memorable and special time, where despite the lack of a common language Nikos and I discovered in one another a kindred spirit....

The name of the race stands for 'Bear', as the race route goes through the land where the bears live...

The animal totem for bear, says that it represents strength and courage which is certainly required to compete in this ultra trail race...!

Very fittingly, although I imagine quite a surprise, the runner who finished 4th in the 40k event met a bear on the path 15k into the race...

The guys assured me that the bears are smaller than grizzlies and generally don't attack... Although one day when Dean had been out running for three hours he came face to face with a bear and her three babies. He ran in the other direction and, once she had made sure her young were safely back in the forest, chased Dean for 200 metres! He said he ran at 3 minute kilometer pace and felt real fear for the first time in his life.

He called his mentor Nikos on his return who offered him the support and understanding he needed... Nikos too has met a bear on the trail, also with her offspring, when he was running at night. After sending her two cubs away to safety, the mother bear reared up on her hind legs but Nikos was not afraid; instead he felt it a privilege to have encountered these wild creatures in their natural habitat.

We were meeting to talk about Nikos, his long and succesful running career and the race he created, which had taken place the previous day for the third year running. The race has two events; the 18k (which I ran and enjoyed) and the 40k event. The route of the 40k followed our race course for the last 18k but the first 22k are far harder with three very steep inclines...

Nikos was the top Greek mountain runner for many years. He was a pioneer and changed the face of mountain running in Greece. While he was running internationally as a trail runner, he was sponsored by Salomon until mid 2013 and is now funded by North Face.

He competed in numerous world Championships and international events in the mountain running scene, retiring five years ago from international competition. Nikos was also an international cross country skier representing Greece in the 1994 Olympics held in Norway. 

He would ski in the winter and once the snow was gone, he would run...

He has always run... From the moment he could move, running was his natural action - he never walked. Whatever he did, he did it on the run...

'My biomechanics do not involve walking' he said, laughing.

Nikos was born in 1970 in a village called Anilio, the other side of Aracthos river, 8k from Metsovo where he now lives.

His family were carpenters who expected that Nikos would follow in the family trade, and they did not understand running. They tried, without suceeding, to hold him back and direct him towards folowing the traditional steps...

But Nikos was a runner... He would give his books to his school friends to carry whilst he ran the 8k to school, and then in the evening he would run home and his friends took his school bag again...

Nikos's brother is five years younger than him, and once he was attending the same school he took on the role of the 'book carrier'.

It was considered very bizarre to run in the mountains twenty five years ago. Nikos was the trail blazer.

When he was 8 months old his parents emigrated to Germany; this was quite a usual practice in Greece and Nikos grew up with his Grandparents, his mothers parents.

His grandfather was a shepherd and herded his sheep up on the highest part of the mountain - which is also the highest point in the Metsovo race...

Nikos has been running up there since he was a toddler...

Each summer his parents would visit Greece for a month, but Nikos chose to stay in the mountain with his Grandfather. His parents bought him jellies and he would run at full speed down the mountain to fetch them and then enjoy eating them on the way up again...

He didn't take part in any sporting events until one day there was a turning point. It was a Saturday evening in June 1983... Nikos was with his Grandfather who was guarding his sheep as usual. His twin uncles, his grandfather and he, were gathered around the fire when one of his uncles mentioned that the folk club in the village was organising a race that was taking place for the first time the next day...

'I'm going to participate', Nikos announced... Because he was young they tried to dissuade him and made fun of him, but he was determined to compete...

The race was 4k or 5k in distance over the trails and it was to start in the village at 5.30am in the morning...

His mother was surprised to see him up so early....

He looked in the closet for something to wear and found his swimwear, a pair of football boots and a short sleeved T shirt. He was all set to go!

He arrived at the river where the two mountains meet, and where the race was to start, to find forty to fifty other people already there. The race was divided into two categories, adults and teenagers.

At this time he hadn't started cross country skiing and he arrived to find all his classmates competing and that the other participants had the proper equipment!

A footballer gave them a warm up and some pre-race instructions,which included suggesting that they only breathe through the nose...

The starting pistol was fired and they were off. Nikos breathed only through his nose as instructed and was leading the race with four others...

With his mouth shut he started to experience breathing problems!

And so he took two breaths with his mouth and went immediately into the lead...

He went back to the mouth shut method and the four runners caught him up again....

And so he took another five or six breaths and immediately felt better.... He then thought; 'What the f **k, started to breathe fully and went on to claim victory - even though he was already hypoxic!

It was a good day, his uncle won the adult race, he won the youngsters race. He also made a lot of money as people put coins in his clothes...

It was a turning point, he was now a competitive runner... His school leader who had organised the event helped Nikos join a track and field  athletics club in Ioaninna.

The spark had been ignited and he was now an athlete forever.

Nikos was always a protagonist, he ran alone always doing the sport he loved. His parents didn't understand his passion and so he carved his own trail and created his own fantasy.

He is now known and loved by all in the town, but also in the whole of the mountain running and skiing community of the country...

He changed the face of mountain running in Greece... In the 90's he was seen as the 'mad man' of the village, but he was in truth the 'Christopher Columbus' of mountain trails... Blazing his own 'road less travelled' always, so that others might follow. And so, over time he made it a popular sport.

His quest now, is to pass on all he has learnt and seen, all his experiences, to others...

His motto in life is, that we must 'work to keep ourselves at top level physically and spiritually, and that the most important is spiritually...'

Once the spark had been ignited Nikos started to train in earnest... He was sent a training schedule by the coach in the Ioannina track club, but he 'did his own thing', the coach was a kind man who supported Nikos training through his own methods.

Nikos was also becoming a top level skier and with his sporting prowess he gained a place at Athens University to study sports science....

While he was there he trained in the park and he ran up the Parnitha mountain which had a casino at the top. He would take the lift down with the 'well dressed' people, looking 'out of place' in his sports kit. But his training regime worked for him and over time the ski federation recognised his efforts and gave him a free lift pass to get down!

Another training method was roller skiing and he discovered that by training on his roller skis on the Olympic complex he could get great resistance from the track. This helped him improve the quality of his training and so improve his fitness.

He would sneak in after 9pm and train, and then in the morning he would be with his fellow running team mates, who always wondered at the strange marks on the track!

He never said a word...

The Metsovo race, is the race he is working on to develop, and to ensure it is the top mountain race in Greece. He is a consultant in other races including Tera, which is a 50 mile race with 5000 meters of positive altitude. Nikos won the inaugural running of this event...

He feels accomplished as a runner now, which is why focusing on being a race director and a coach is where his energies are going, although he stills loves running and competing for his own satisfaction....

Part 2

The three of us met again later that day... There was more Nikos wanted to share...

We started by talking about how Nikos feels gratitude for the gift of life and feels a sense of responsibility that he must not to waste it.

We continued on to talk more about running, about the Olympic Games having their birth place in Greece and that the core value of the games is about honouring the 'gift of life'.

The God Zeus was the protector of the games and the winners of the races were deemed the favourites of the gods; they would dedicate their winnings to Zeus...

Nikos went on to say how he finds his joy through running and how he feels it is his purpose to run. Through following his purpose he has affected so many lives in positive ways.

Dean and Yannis described him as the pride of Metsovo. They confirmed that he has changed the face of Greek mountain running making it popular and in doing so he has inspired so many people...

By following his heart he has made a difference...

In 2010 Nikos ran in an event that touched him deeply and changed him at a profound level.

The event, Solu Khumbu Trail, took place in Nepal in November 2010. The race was 300k over ten days.

The entire trip took twenty five days as the competitors needed time to acclimatise and as the race went up to 6000meters in altitude.

On the 3rd and 6th day they could not run as it was raining and the trails were covered in thin ice. Instead they agreed to walk together as one body....

The Nepal experience deeply affected his spirit. During the time he was there Nikos realised that the things he had previously held as beliefs and theories were now part of his life.

Being stripped bare emotionally and existing with minimal physical comforts he found the real values of life...

He missed his daughter deeply and, as he journeyed, he rcognised that for him there are three very important values...

One is the importance of family - this was was emphasised deeply within him...

There were no luxuries of western life... And living simply in stone houses where the water froze in the glass if you stepped outside, he saw he could have a rich spiritual life with the bare necessities of life and so his second value was made clear; that anything you struggle for is not important.

Half way through the race he developed bronchitis which changed to pneumonia and so his third value, health, demonstrated its importance in its absence.... And the positive that came from this was that up until he got ill, Nikos was leading the race, and after that he just wanted to finish for himself.

His strong belief is that our life is not to be wasted, that plants, animals, humans are all energy and so must all move - and by following his heart and running, and keeping moving in the way his spirit dictates, has made a difference to other people....

He says that his best ideas come while running, but that being a competitive athlete means living on the edge, and taking serious risks... When pushing forward sometimes the outcome is a matter of luck....

He has developed his philosophy through all of his life experiences that the things that come naturally are the way to go...

Nikos vision is now to set the standard for races in Greece... He coaches runners too. 

He learnt how not to coach through a coach who was too strict and pushed him too hard. He discovered that the best coaching is to infuse the athletes with 'the spirit of running', and that the purpose is not to be competitive, but to build better people...

He is keen not to push athletes, and although they may be competitive when younger, as they mature they will realise what is most important...

Nikos had much success over the years including winning the race of races, the Olympus marathon twice - this is a 44k trail race with an ascent of 3200 metres...

Last year, 2014, he sprained his ankle 7-8 k from the finish and realised that two years ago he would have already completed the race!

But the joy of the 2014 race was that he was running with Hercules, who is his blood brother, and the Saloman teacher and the race organiser....

Nikos feels happier with himself as a person than he did when he was part of the Greek ski team and making money from the sport... He feels he was more egocentric then, protecting himself....

He now feels he has completed all he hoped for as competitive runner. He still loves to stretch himself, but not to beat others, just to feel the joy running fast over the mountains...

He believes the circle is complete 

He loves to see what he can do to win his own race...

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