From June 23rd to 27th, Richard Donovan will attempt a record-breaking run from Mizen Head to Malin Head. Run the Country is a genuinely tough endurance challenge. It’s not a marathon per day or a marathon per month, but more than 3 full marathons day after day after day after day against the clock. After four-and-a-half days, Richard hopes to have completed the equivalent of 14 marathons to finish the 365-mile distance in a new record time.

Richard who is best know for being the first person in the world to run a marathon at both the North and South Poles, is doing this in aid of Camp Claddagh, an outreach group of the Chernobyl Children’s Project. The goal is to raise €45,000 to bring 46 children to Galway in July for recuperation from the contaminated zones of Belarus.

Richard has the kinda biography that must have other ultra runners pretty scared:

He has won the South Pole Marathon, the Inca Trail Marathon, the Everest Challenge Marathon, the Antarctic 100km and the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race. He has set Guinness World Records for long distance treadmill running and is the current Irish record holder for 100 miles. Richard additionally holds the Antarctic 100km record and the record for running from Malin Head to Mizen Head. He has also completed the gruelling Trans 333 across the Sahara Desert and accompanied a British soccer player across the Atacama Desert for a one-hour BBC documentary.

Richard has already run the reverse direction (3 years ago) from Malin Head to Mizen Head and holds the record for that route.
We’ll be following you and rooting for you all the way Richard as you set out tomorrow, best of luck!!

-Aisling-

Quotes and images from Run The Country.

-Aisling-

Photo belongs to Gerry Brady of the training day on the course.

Eoin I’ll try join you for a couple of miles along the way! Best of luck!

-Aisling-

You have till midnight Monday to get the entries in…the clocks are ticking…. ;-) Thanks to Rowan McMahon for the reminder!

Prizes sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor Store.

-Aisling-

Image from Not the Sunday Run’s Picasa page of last year’s event.

Guest speakers in the 53° North Lecture Series to date have included some of the world’s top athletes including the world famous mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington who delivered a sold out lecture last November in the Blanchardstown store, in May of last year 53° North brought one of the world’s most famous and respected surfers Laird Hamilton to their Carrickmines store and plans for this winter include a lecture by climber and base jumper Leo Houlding.

Information from Thinkhouse here.

Hopefully see you there!

-Aisling-

Our own gilry team had a cracking day and despite our first runner going slightly astray on leg 1 (even though we had ran it the day before!!) we still managed to come home 11th out of 37 teams, even setting two new women’s records for legs 2 and 5. As is the case every year, the sun was beating down and a smashing after-race gathering was guaranteed in the finish town of Shillelagh.

Our all female Clonliffe team with driver and invaluable support for the day Gary Moralee.

Photos from Gerry Brady, Lindie Naughton and myself are linked here.

-Aisling-

The image of Niall is Gerry Brady’s, the other two are mine! That first one is me and TGU’s Neal feeling silly in our his and her t-shirts!

All that’s left to do is enjoy the day (and beat Neal’s team). It’s a pity we’re not running the same leg Neal, gimme a chance to kick your ass! ;-)
Good luck to all 30 teams taking part! See y’all tomorrow!

-Aisling-

Iarnrod Eireann employees John O’Regan from Dublin and Roy Galvin from Cork have returned victorious from Peru having won the Inca trail to Machu Picchu marathon. The race started high in the Peruvian Andes at an altitude of 2500M and followed the Inca Trail over an undulating course including 3 high passes all of which are at an altitude of over 4000M and eventually finished in the Inca Capital of Machu Picchu at an altitude of 2400M. O’Regan led the way from the start and was swapping places with an ultra marathon runner from Germany for the first 10 miles before taking the lead again during a steep descent. Galvin managed to catch the German and made a heroic effort to catch up with O’Regan shortly after mile 22, the pair then worked together to cross the finish line in first place in a time of 6hr27min and over 30 minutes ahead of the next competitor. The Inca Trail normally takes 4 days to trek and to put the race into perspective it would be like running a Marathon and climbing / descending Carrantouhill 3 times starting from sea level. Sponsored by the Great Outdoors, the pair were using this race as a fund raising event for the Jack & Jill Children’s foundation.

Well it couldn’t have been as tough as they made out since John had the energy to go leaping off rocks the day after…. ;-)

Congrats to you both, it’s a cracking achievement and we’re all mad jealous of the adventure it must have been. Anyone thinking of another big city marathon might just be thinking again…

-Aisling-

Images from John O’ Regan

We begin our mountain marathon on the ancient Inca trail that leads to the legendary lost city of Machu Picchu - an extraordinary adventure into the history of the grand Inca civilization. Along the way, we explore the intriguing ruins of Inca fortresses, and enjoy the expansive views from the high passes. Descending to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu, the cloud forest trail becomes increasingly lush and varied.

Picture that when you’re running the Cork City Marathon this monday!

Johnn and Roy are still in Peru and we’re expecting a full report from John when he gets back.

-Aisling-

Qoute from Andes Adventures. Image of John and Roy from John.

Keep the hard days hard and easy the easy days : interesting post about how alternating hard and easy training days works better than trying to go hard all the time, as then you feel tired and get into mediocre training.

Cross-training : an article about the benefits of cross training as a way to improve performance and reduce burn-out.

Cross-training for runners: want to maximize your training time while minimize injury-related problems? Take a look at this article . It talks about how aerobic-based cross-training, such as elliptical machines and cycling, will improve your aerobic conditioning, and so improve your running condition while sparing you the pounding from running.

Championship Triathlon Training : George Dallam, PhD, USA Triathlon’s first national team coach is the author of a new triathlon book that has just been recently published. On Championship Triathlon Training Dallam gives coaching insights to all those tri athletes who want to get the training right.

And completing this week’s post, a bonus for the adventure racers: the 2007 Gobi March which will kick off this year’s edition on June 5th. Check it out here

-Ed-
Find much more trail, endurance and adventure running at trailrunningsoul.com

Image credit - Clear Lake Triathlon 01 , by Daily Mik