How I met Micah True (aka Caballo Blanco)

In Search of a Story

In 2009 I decided that I wanted to make a movie that was about the joy of traveling solo on a motorcycle and the discoveries that come with this type of exploration. I decided to ride into Mexico in search of a story. I didn’t know what kind of story I was looking for. I just figured that it had to be out there and I would recognize it when I found it.

The Copper Canyon

My journey led me into the heart of the North America’s largest wilderness – the Copper Canyon, located in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northern Mexico. This vast and rugged landscape is inhabited by ranchers, miners, loggers, and a tribe of Indians known as the Tarahumara. The Tarahumara have inhabited these mountains for centuries and their way of life has changed little over time. Because they live in a rugged environment with few roads, they have to run many miles to hunt for their food or travel between villages. As a result, they are some of the best long distance runners in the world.

Caballo Blanco

I met Micah True (aka Caballo Blanco) by chance when I arrived in the small village of Urique at the bottom of one of the canyons. We were both staying at the same small hostel on the edge of town. Although I didn’t know it at the time, Micah is a legend in the sport of ultra marathon running. He came here many years ago to run with the Tarahumara and he returns every year to organize an annual footrace for them – a 50-mile race called the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. His idea is to encourage the Tarahumara to continue their age-old tradition of running, by creating an event that gives them an opportunity to celebrate this important aspect of their culture and provide them with an economic incentive to continue. The race has grown over the years and regularly draws hundreds of Tarahumara from the surrounding villages as participants.

Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon

Micah invited me to film the race in 2009 and it became the highlight of my entire journey through Mexico. When I returned to Seattle, I used the footage that I filmed in the canyon to create a short movie about the Tarahumara and the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. To date, this short film has received over 150,000 views on YouTube. I also finished my motorcycle movie, and included several minutes of the ultra marathon in the end of the movie.

Continued Threats

Today, the Tarahumara culture continues to be threatened by deforestation from logging, draught and poverty. Even more alarming – the Mexican drug cartels that force the Tarahumara into labor for their drug cultivation.

Born to Run

Fortunately, news of the Tarahumara is spreading quickly as more and more stories about the tribe appear in the media. In 2009, a book by author Christopher McDougall called Born to Run really put the Tarahumara on the map. After it was published it quickly became a New York Times best seller and a feature length Hollywood movie is currently in production. Caballo Blanco recently finished an international speaking tour and the 2012 Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon already has about 60 international runners slated to run with the Tarahumara.

It’s been three years since I have been to Mexico and I’m excited and nervous about returning to the land of the Tarahumara, Caballo Blanco and the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. My aim is to give this story the attention it deserves by filming the canyons as they have never been filmed before and sharing all of the beauty and drama of running in the greatest race the world has never seen.