I didn’t know Orlando (Yamanaka, 59, who died on Monday night (22) after an accident during one of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc races) in person. We were certainly in the same trail races out there, full of challenges, mountains, beautiful visuals and monster troubles, but he was probably ahead of me in the races.
Orlando Yamanaka, 59, the “Ultramarathon Encyclopedia”. (Reproduction)
Photo: Launch!
Not only for being more capable than me, but also for being a great scholar and a great connoisseur of all the trails in the trail world. He knew where each slope was, the distance between checkpoints, he knew that a certain stretch had rougher terrain, that the top of the next mountain could be very cold. He might never have been there, but he’d already talked to someone, read something, watched a video, was a tireless and passionate researcher of this trail world.
And he didn’t do it just to face the races better, but also because he loved the information, the mystique, the events and everything else that surrounded this world of mountain racing.
As I said, I didn’t know Orlando personally. But I didn’t need to meet him, although I’m sure it would be a great pleasure to meet him physically to know all this. Because Orlando not only knew, but he also loved to share that knowledge. The greatest knowledge Orlando had about the trail world was knowing how to write, share, talk and disseminate everything he knew about it, precisely to make it all reach and make more people fall in love with the mountains.
Orlando was a reference and encyclopedia of the trail world for all athletes. From the most novice and inexperienced to the most established, everyone knew they could come to him to ask a question, tell a story or share a “story” about a race, a place, a mountain, a piece of equipment or something related to trail life.
I didn’t know Orlando personally, I don’t know what his laugh or voice was like, I only knew his texts, his tips, his analyzes and the impressions that his friends had of him. And that’s exactly why I regret not having met him and I already miss what I didn’t see, because the little I knew was excellent, intelligent, interesting and thought-provoking.
The trail world is huge, vast, there are races and mountains all over the world and Orlando seemed to know them all. And those who knew Orlando ended up knowing all this too, because what was his was everyone’s. His thirst for life and knowledge was proportionate to his thirst to inform and share this information with anyone interested in it.
I didn’t know Orlando. Maybe even wrong about him in a print here or there. But it is as if I had known him, for all the lessons he left in this world and that will be perpetuated in the memory of those who knew him. Perhaps without knowing it, he was the best teacher, the best journalist, the best student, and the best reader the trail world could have, all at the same time.
It’s a shame you didn’t meet Orlando. But I’m glad I met him.
*Ricardo Nishisaki is an ultramarathoner
