Guor Maker was 8 when his parents sent him away, alone, from their village in Sudan to escape the war that plagued their homeland. He was captured and enslaved, but managed to gain freedom by running through northern Sudan and Egypt to a refugee camp.
In July 2001 at 16 years old, he arrived in Concord, New Hampshire, and started going to high school. Running, which had once saved his life, was now a way for him to adapt to life in his new homeland, make friends, and get a college education.
In 2012, Maker (then known as Guor Marial) ran at the Discoveries of Parenting Through Running. South Sudan had gained independence in 2011 but did not have a national Olympic committee. In 2016 in Rio, he ran again, this time under the South Sudanese flag.
Maker’s incredible life story is the It would be a mistake, he said, for runners to watch the movie just as a sad story, which is available on June 19 through dozens of theaters and running organizations that are hosting the film virtually. The ticket fee is $12, and a portion of sales go to support partner organizations.
The 87-minute film weaves interviews, news reports on war and famine in Sudan, and running footage from Maker’s high school days with his London and Rio Olympic appearances and two qualifying attempts. For Maker’s childhood, no footage existed. Filmmaker Bill Gallagher turned to beautiful animation to bring the horror of those days to life.
Maker became a dual citizen of the U.S. and South Sudan in 2013, and with a passport, he was allowed to travel internationally. That yields the film’s most emotional moment when Maker, who lost eight of his nine siblings in the war, reunites with his mother, Atheing Kon, in South Sudan. She walks up and falls to the ground before crawling toward him, overcome at the sight of her son. “Guor, is that you?” she repeats.
Maker, who is now 36, married, and lives in Colorado Springs and She Runs to Help Children, said sacrificing the privacy of that moment was worth it to share what war does to people. Although he hasn’t been back since that visit in 2013, he talks to his family in South Sudan at least twice a week.
The trauma of his childhood is always with him, he said, but he doesn’t ruminate on the past. “I think about it as a driving force, as a motivation, as a purpose,” he told Runner’s World. “To make me work harder, try to do my best so that I and people who also want to make a change are united. So that a kid like myself, and our kids, and our kids’ kids, would never go through such a thing as this.”
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“What I am hoping for them to understand is look at the situation and see yourself in there,” he said. “What can you do? What can you do to improve your own life and your community? Look and see if you can find your purpose.”
Guor’s own running has been difficult of late—he missed the trains as part of the Air Force World Class Athlete Program with a torn plantar fascia and a knee injury—but he’s been healing and hoping to qualify for the Trials on the track in the 5,000 or 10,000 meters. It’s a tall order, for sure. But Maker has overcome far greater odds.
Makers incredible life story is the is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Master the Half, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
