Sandman

About Sandman

Sandman is a young Native American runner who enters the Steel Ball Run without a horse, racing thousands of miles on his own two feet using his tribe's running techniques. He races for the prize money to buy back his people's stolen land, and his endurance makes him a marvel and a threat to the riders around him.

Appearance

Sandman is a lean, long-haired young man dressed for the desert in light tribal clothing, usually barefoot or in minimal footwear even across brutal terrain. He runs with a distinctive, efficient stride taught by his people, conserving energy over distances that break horses. Beside the mounted racers he looks outmatched, until the stage results say otherwise.

Personality

Sandman is quiet, proud and torn between two worlds. He studied the white settlers' language and ways, which his tribe views with suspicion, because he believes knowledge of the enemy is how his people survive. His goal never wavers, the prize money will buy back his ancestors' land, and he pursues it with a runner's patience and a warrior's pride.

Background & Story

Sandman grew up in a Native American tribe in the Arizona desert, a gifted runner trained in techniques that let a man cross enormous distances on foot. Ostracised by some of his own people for adopting settler habits like reading, he saw the Steel Ball Run as his one chance: fifty million dollars would buy back the land stolen from his tribe. He entered a horse race with no horse, and in the early stages, his feet keep him among the leaders, to the disbelief of every rider in America.

Powers & Abilities

• In a Silent Way: Sandman's Stand gives sound a solid form: noises he captures become three-dimensional shapes that reproduce the effect of whatever made the sound on anything they touch.
• Tribal running technique: Sandman's traditional running style lets him cross desert and mountain stages on foot at speeds and distances that rival the race's horses.

Key Relationships

• Johnny Joestar: A fellow competitor whose respect Sandman earns in the early stages, when a man on foot keeps pace with the best horses in the race.
• Gyro Zeppeli: One of the star riders Sandman measures himself against across the desert stages.
• Pocoloco: Another of the race's great oddities, the luckiest man alive, whose path crosses Sandman's in the opening stages.

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