He might not be as popular or successful as his bigger Asian neighbours from China, Qi Shun and Yuichi Takahashi from Japan, but Taiwan’s visually impaired runner Lai Chih-Chieh is a man of varied interests which include being a piano tuner teacher, massage instructor and a peep ball player.

The modest 42-year-old will be running in the third leg of the four Greatest Race on Earth marathons in order to raise awareness for Seeing is Believing, the nominated beneficiary of GROE 2008-09.

Lai will be running together with his 38-year-old wife Yeh Michelle, who will be navigating him through the course route, holding on to each other with a short bit of cord.

Losing his sight at the age of 17 due to the retinitis pigmentosa disease, which affected his eyes, Lai did not let that tragedy stop him from taking up swimming seriously. In fact, he finished third in the 200m breast stroke at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998.

Talking about his peep ball exploits, Lai points out that it is a game like softball that is played by the visually impaired.

Their team of nine comprises of six players who cannot see, while three can. For the record, his team had won the international peep ball championship for three years held at Cleveland, Columbia and Houston in the USA from 2004 to 2006.

Here Michelle enthusiastically chips in to add that her husband had won the Most Valuable Player award on the last year.

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