Romy News - 26 March 2024

Hello there! It’s Tuesday, and just like every day, I’m here to share some exciting news with you and to help you discover amazing things about our world. Today, you’re in for a treat - it’s incredible! We’ll talk about an extraordinary woman who won a very tough race, we’ll learn how clocks tell us the time, and we’ll also get to know a very talented swimmer. So, are you ready to learn and have fun? Awesome, let’s start our journey through news and discovery today! Let’s go!

Imagine tackling one of the most demanding races on the planet. That’s what Jasmin Paris achieved. This courageous woman has just won the Barkley Marathons, and let me tell you, it’s no easy feat. Do you know about this challenge? It’s a running race that is so tough that many experienced athletes cannot finish it!

The Barkley Marathons takes place in the state of Tennessee, at Frozen Head State Park. Participants have to cover around 160 kilometers, which is like running around a stadium a hundred times! And as if that’s not enough, they also have to climb and descend, over and over, until they reach a total elevation gain of over 18,000 meters. This race was created somewhat in jest of James Earl Ray, the man who tragically ended the life of Martin Luther King Jr., because when he escaped from prison, he didn’t manage to go very far. To sign up for this race, the rules are as strange as the race itself, for example, you have to send a letter explaining why you should be one of the participants.

Jasmin Paris, our champion’s name, is a 40-year-old veterinarian. She set off from Midlothian, a place in the north of the United Kingdom, to take on this immense challenge. During her adventure, Jasmin had to face secret paths, run all night, battle fatigue, and even lose her voice! But she never gave up, training hard and believing that she could do it.

And here comes the historic moment: after all these challenges, Jasmin Paris reaches the end of the race. She is welcomed by cheers, she sprints and crosses the finish line just before the 60-hour deadline. David Miller, a photographer who has seen many races, says that what she has done is probably one of the greatest feats in ultramarathon racing.

What Jasmin has accomplished is truly inspiring. It shows us that often, we set our own limits. And with determination and perseverance, we can push them, reaching our wildest goals.

After discovering Jasmin Paris’s feat and her race against time, let’s talk about time itself! But how do we measure time in our daily lives? Today, Marie asked me a very interesting question: “How do clocks work?” And together, we will explore the fascinating history of clocks, how they function, and the different types that exist.

Before people could check their watches, they used very different methods to know the time. In ancient times, they had sundials, hourglasses, and even water clocks, which are like big glasses that fill up drop by drop. Then, in the 14th century, a big leap was made with mechanical clocks. Before that, imagine that people talked about time in “moments”, and this moment didn’t have the same duration in summer and winter! Christiaan Huygens then revolutionized it all in 1656 with his pendulum clock, which allowed time to be measured much more accurately.

So, how does a mechanical clock work? There are several important elements: a mainspring that stores energy, an escapement that releases this energy bit by bit, and of course the gears and hands that move at a given rate. It’s a bit like the clock having a heart, and the escapement is its breathing. That’s why mechanical clocks need to be taken care of so that they continue to keep the correct time.

In our time, clocks have changed a lot. There are, for example, atomic clocks, which are so precise that they are based on the vibrations of atoms to tell the time. It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s really different from mechanical clocks and shows how much technology has advanced.

So, we have come a long way with clocks, from antiquity to today’s technological wonders. And if you want to have fun measuring time like in ancient times, you can try making a sundial. All you need is a plate, a pencil, and a bit of paper. You’ll see, it’s fun!

We’ve just talked about clocks and time, and there’s someone who really knows how to swim against the clock: that’s Léon Marchand. Today, for our feature ‘Great Athletes’, I’m going to introduce you to this young French swimmer, very talented and already very humble despite his enormous skill. His journey shows that he is a great hope for France at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Léon dove into the world of swimming when he was very young. That’s normal, with a dad and a mom who were also swimming champions, Xavier Marchand and Céline Bonnet. At three years old, he already joined a swimming club! Despite a growth that took its time, Léon never stopped wanting to swim faster and better, from a very young age.

His training has been intense in France. He worked a lot with Nicolas Castel, his coach, and at the Training Center in Toulouse, he further strengthened his training. Léon is someone who never gives up, and his body eventually became as powerful as his will, leading him to the top of the rankings.

His recent successes are truly extraordinary. He won a gold medal at a major competition, and it’s Michael Phelps, an incredible swimmer himself, who presented it to him! He even broke Michael Phelps’s world record in the 400 meters individual medley and won in the 200 meters butterfly. All this is thanks to his relentless training and the attention that his American coach, Bob Bowman, pays to every detail.

Even a great swimmer like Léon has other passions: he likes music, computers, video games, and is interested in aviation. It’s probably all these things, along with his kindness, that help him stay grounded even as he becomes more and more recognized.

For the Paris Olympics in 2024, Léon continues to prepare and train, sometimes returning to his roots, his club TOEC. Despite his popularity, he remains humble, a true role model.

So, I challenge you: if one day you had the chance to meet Léon Marchand, what question would you like to ask him? About swimming, competition, or how to handle his fame? Tell me all about it!

And there you have it, that’s all for today’s episode of ‘Romy News’! We learned about Jasmin Paris’s incredible success in one of the toughest marathons in the world, we discovered the inner workings of clocks, and we painted a picture of Léon Marchand, a young swimming prodigy who promises to shine at the upcoming Olympics. I hope you enjoyed listening to these stories as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you.

Don’t forget to talk about all this with your friends and family! And if you have any questions or dreams to share with me, or even if you want to tell me the difference between an analog clock and a digital clock, send me a message on Instagram! I’ll be happy to read your comments, and maybe your question will be the next one to be discussed in our podcast. So, see you tomorrow for new discoveries! Bye!