Galway runner in bid to beat own record

Galway ultra-runner Richard Donovan is this week attempting to smash his own world record by running seven marathons on seven continents in under five days.

Donovan completed the epic challenge in a record time of five days, ten hours and eight minutes in 2009 and is now attempting to set a new record time of less than 120 hours.

His World Marathon Challenge officially begins at 9am this morning, Wednesday 1 February, when he will run a marathon on mainland Antarctica.

The runner will then complete marathons in Cape Town, Sao Paulo, Orlando, London and Hong Kong before finishing in Sydney on Monday 6 February.

Speaking to the Galway Independent from Cape Town, Richard said that he needs to have finished all seven marathons by 9am Irish time on Monday morning to complete the challenge in under five days.

The race organiser decided on his round-the-world route just two weeks ago, and asked local members of the running community in each country to aid his efforts. Each marathon course that he will take on will be officially measured and verified to ensure that he clocks up the required mileage, but he has said that running is just one small part of the test.

He is expected to spend 18 hours disembarking from flights, passing through customs, and travelling to and from marathon locations, in addition to flying a total of 27,000 miles and, of course, running 183 miles.

“It’s a mish-mash of a challenge, between logistical and physical, and there are lots of elements with it, between the fatigue and the flying itself and the temperature fluctuations. The running is really one small part of it,” he said, adding that temperatures in Antarctica are expected to be -15 degrees, while temperatures in Cape Town will be at least 25 degrees.

Donovan will be flying economy class to each destination around the world, bringing just one carry-on bag with him and spending around 56 hours flying on his journey. He will have around five hours to complete his marathon in Antarctica before his flight is due to leave, nine hours in Cape Town and less than nine in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “The last time I did something like this, I had huge problems at the airports staying awake,” he said.

During his last record-breaking global race, Donovan raised funds for GOAL's work in Darfur and this year’s World Marathon Challenge is in aid of GOAL's efforts to alleviate the suffering of people affected by famine and drought in the Horn of Africa. To donate funds, visit www.worldmarathonchallenge.com.

Donovan has previously won several off-road events such as the Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race, Antarctic 100K, Inca Trail Marathon, South Pole Marathon and Everest Challenge Marathon.

He also organises the North Pole Marathon and Antarctic Ice Marathon, which are the northernmost and southernmost marathons in the world, respectively.

And, in addition to preparing for his world challenge this week, Donovan has also been planning his next adventure – the first ever Antarctic Triathlon, which he hopes will take place next year.

The race organiser flew to the Russian Novo base in the Antarctic Circle, 4,200km south of Cape Town, on Monday in order to examine a potential course for an iron-distance triathlon, which comprises a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike course and 26.2 mile run.

“There is a freshwater lake that, for a space of a few weeks, the temperature of that lake is one or two degrees so the water becomes unfrozen, so it’s possible to do a triathlon,” he said.