Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 115, February 2019 | Page 36

TRAIL RUNNING
vivor
Sur
T
he date 20 September 1999 is
seared into Lee den Hond’s memory.
She had worked in marketing for
adidas and Nike in South Africa, and now
she had been in New York for just over
two months trying to land her dream job
in marketing with Nike in the Big Apple,
but things had not worked out as she had
hoped. Firstly, she did not have a permit
to legally work in the USA, and secondly,
she hadn’t realised that Nike headquarters
was actually in Portland, on the other side
of the country, so instead she was working
three part-time jobs just trying to earn
enough to survive.
“I was 30 years old and doing jobs
that students normally do,” says Lee,
describing that she would do personal
training in Central Park with individual
clients in the mornings, then work in sales
in a fashion store, followed by hostess and
waitressing work in an Italian restaurant in
the evenings. That day in September, after
putting in a long day at all three jobs, she
caught the subway home and was walking
the last few blocks home, around midnight,
when it happened.
“Something told me to turn around and I
saw a guy behind me, looking at a piece
of paper. It looked like he was looking for a
specific building or address, so I continued
walking. Suddenly I felt an incredible pain
in my back, like a hammer blow, and I lost
all feeling in my right leg. The guy had
stabbed me, and as I lay there he took my
Nike backpack and ran off. It had the sum
total of three Dollars in loot in it.”
CHASING
ADVENTURE
Lee den Hond has run ultra-marathons, done multiple Ironmans, climbed Mount
Everest and run the multi-day Marathon Des Sables in the Sahara Desert, after surviving
being stabbed by a mugger in New York. Her life story reads like a fantastic adventure
novel, so it is quite appropriate that she recently launched her book, What happens
when you say Yes. – BY SEAN FALCONER
36
ISSUE 115 FEBRUARY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
HELPING HANDS
Lee was put in an ambulance to be taken
to hospital, but all she could think about
was not being caught for working in the
USA illegally, since she didn’t have a work
permit. “I actually asked them to stop the
ambulance and said I would be fine, but
the ambulance crew insisted that I needed
to go to hospital, because it was a serious
wound.” While Lee was still waiting for
her X-rays to be developed and then to
be treated, two detectives arrived with the
mugger in handcuffs and leg chains and
asked her to identify him.
“His name was Angel Pallo and he had
been released from Rikers Island, the
main jail in New York, just that morning.
He had a criminal record dating back to
1988 and had spent eight years in prison.
The detectives told me he had probably
Lee in action at the Marathon
Des Sables in the Sahara Desert
“A passing cab driver stopped his car and
came to help me. He called the police and
asked me if I would recognise the guy.
Still trying to figure out why I couldn’t feel
my leg, I said ‘Yes, definitely, he’s wearing
a yellow sweater and a blue cap with the
NYC logo, and he’s got my backpack.
When the police arrived, one officer stayed
with me while the other went after the guy,
and he caught the attacker a few blocks
away.”