The Taramara are an indigenous nation living in the state of Chihuahua, which is Mexico's largest.

The outside world knows them mainly as legendary long-distance runners.

Bernardo Ruiz is a documentary filmmaker.

His new ESPN 30 for 30 film is called The Infinite Race, about the Tarahumara and Ultramarathon

running.

One of the things that they kept saying needed documentation and that they thought would

be something important or beautiful to highlight

were the traditional races.

One is called the Rada Hippetti, which is a ball game played by men.

What we see in the open sequence of the film are a group of men in traditional Tarumara clothing,

brightly colored, wearing sandals in this case, racing across the top of the Sierra,

which is a very dramatic piece of the Copper Canyon.

And it's just about endurance and kicking the ball over long stretches of time.

As a middle-aged documentarian, I can tell you that I was drenched in sweat and hopelessly falling behind any time we were trying to document some of the races and traditions of the

Tatumata. I can't say that I did a good job. The good thing is I have a much younger, healthier

crew, and they were keeping pace some of the time.

In the world of ultramarathon running, competitors travel the globe to run 30, 50, 100-mile races in all kinds of conditions. It's extreme. And you could say unnatural.

But for an indigenous group in Mexico, that type of running has long been part of their local culture.

Filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz tells the complex story of what happens when outsiders enter that

culture and the stakes get raised.

I'm Pablo Torre. It's Thursday, December 17th. This is ESPN Daily.

So, Bernardo, your documentary for 30 for 30 is called The Infinite Race. And it's not really about any single athlete.

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