Spartathlon Greece 2010

lecheile

For anyone interested in following the Irish interest in Greece (John O'Regan, Eddie Gallen, and Samuel Kilpatrick) there is Realtime updates provided here http://www.spartathlon.gr/resultslive.php . The race started at 5am our time and there is a 36 hour time limit.

plodder

Irish Times - Dubliner hopes gods favour him in race

RacoonQueen

I've been intrigued by this race since I saw John was doing it. Best of luck to all of them.

ThisRegard

Newstalk are mentioning it in their news bulletins so he's getting good media coverage.

lecheile

Race is 7 hours in - the first three just passed the 81km mark (first manned checkpoint) and 16 retired at this stage - all Irish still running.

Dipity

John is doing very well. He has passed the 124km mark and is in great spirits. It's been a really tough day, high temperatures. With it getting cooler he is in good shape now and going strong.

Eddie Gallen has also passed 124km and is doing well. He has moved quite a bit up positions.

mithril

lecheile wrote: »

Race is 7 hours in - the first three just passed the 81km mark (first manned checkpoint) and 16 retired at this stage - all Irish still running.

Is that not a bit fast - nearly 12 KM an hour when an average of about 7KM is needed to make the cut-off - or are the guys targeting a high place rather than merely finishing? I know there is a big night climb for which they will need to bank some time but this seems hectic.

jeffontour

mithril wrote: »

Is that not a bit fast - nearly 12 KM an hour when an average of about 7KM is needed to make the cut-off - or are the guys targeting a high place rather than merely finishing? I know there is a big night climb for which they will need to bank some time but this seems hectic.

I know of the guy in 2nd, Jan Albert Lantink, finished 2nd in last years West Highland Way race. For a guy from a flat country he travelled round that hilly course fairly swiftly! I reckon he's confident in maintaining pace if he's set out that way.

In general however it beggars belief how quickly they're going!

mithril

A new day: I have slept , eaten breakfast, read the papers, done the shopping; John and Eddie continue to run and advance up the field.

Eddie went through the 195KM mark in 64th place after a day and 9:33 hours of running.

John also is moving up, now in 95th place, 30 minutes behind Eddie.

I can't track Samuel on the site, not on the drop-out list either, so I might not be searching correctly.

The first finisher was Ivan Cudin from Italy in 23:03.

Of the starters 162 are still running or have finished , and 189 have now dropped out.

mithril

John and Eddie are now through the second last check point at 225 KM.
Eddie is now in 55th place and John in 89th. Less than 13 KM left...

Dipity

Both John and Eddie have completed the Spartathlon. An incredible feat, they did a fantastic job. It was a very tough course and had a complete mix of conditions.

Eddie came in in 56th position and John in 68th. An amazing achievement by two Irish guys!

RacoonQueen

Congrats to both. Fantastic stuff.

asimonov

awesome stuff - hard to imagine the strength required.

3D2S

Congrats to two truly great Irishmen, awesome achievement and should be front page news. 246K is hard to phathom for all of us plodders, they should both take a bow

jeffontour

Great stuff, well done all.

DULLAHAN2

Thats unreal, fair play to them to be able to do that in such heat.

Woundedknee.

Relaxing with a few drinks in Sparta after what was without doubt the toughest race I've ever done.

jeffontour

Woundedknee. wrote: »

Relaxing with a few drinks in Sparta after what was without doubt the toughest race I've ever done.

Richly deserved, as one of the most under stated guys I've ever met for you to say it's that tough means it must be an absolute f%&ker of a race. Great run, enjoy your downtime.

Enduro

Big well done to Eddie and John. Classic race (in every sense!). Super running.

RoyNeary

Just read John O'Regan's blog and this guy is the real deal. I'm delighted for his well deserved success. Nice to see a guy who keeps his head down and gets on with it and then achieve his goals.
Great runnning and well done to Eddie also.

Enduro

Both John and Eddie are indeed the real deal. Two Irish international athletes of proven class and ability. They're also two of the soundest nicest blokes you could hope to meet. And they're both getting better every year too!

jb-ski

Enduro wrote: »

Both John and Eddie are indeed the real deal. Two Irish international athletes of proven class and ability. They're also two of the soundest nicest blokes you could hope to meet. And they're both getting better every year too!

+1
2 very sound & modest guys, both with incredible mental strength.

Where do they go from here????

TFBubendorfer

jb-ski wrote: »

+1
2 very sound & modest guys, both with incredible mental strength.

Where do they go from here????

Badwater?

mithril

jb-ski wrote: »

Where do they go from here????

Didn't the original Pheidippides run back again from Sparta to Athens?

lecheile

jb-ski wrote: »

+1
2 very sound & modest guys, both with incredible mental strength.

Where do they go from here????

And speaking of modesty......SIGNIFICANT credit goes to John's crew! These events are near impossible without the right person in the team. Take a bow JB.

lecheile

mithril wrote: »

Didn't the original Pheidippides run back again from Sparta to Athens?

Didn't he drop dead????

Jnealon

Looking forward to the race report, it will make for some inspiring reading.

jb-ski

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Badwater?

Don't be giving them ideas!!!

donothoponpop

This was mentioned in Sat's Irish Times

***********

Rather than being the once fearsome test of human limitations, the marathon of today has become a sort of generic measure of human endurance. Much of the myth of the marathon distance has been broken, and no harm.

But this being a special marathon anniversary year, some people weren’t content to simply retrace the footsteps of Pheidippides. So last weekend, 440 runners entered the Spartathlon, which rather than retrace the run from Marathon to Athens, retraces Pheidippides’ run from Athens to Sparta. It’s a rough journey, 152.8 miles to be exact, traversing the Parthenio Mountains by night, in often severe conditions, hot and cold – and must be completed in 36 hours, which is more or less how long it took Pheidippides.

As it turned out, only 128 of the runners finished, and among them were Kildare’s John O’Regan and Belfast’s Eddie Gallen. Both men are ultra-marathon specialists (well used to such mental distances), but the race proved something of a killer nonetheless, although thankfully not in the 490 BC sense. Gallen, who is based in Spain and had competed in this year’s World 24-Hour Championship Run, finished 57th of the lot, in 33 hours and 51 minutes, with O’Regan not far behind in 67th, his 34:13 also safely inside the cut-off time.

“It was without doubt my toughest race ever,” said O’Regan, “and I must admit there were times that I was doubting myself. With over 100km to go I started to hallucinate and thoughts of defeat were starting to enter my head. It took a lot of mental strength to keep going.”

Imagine if Coubertin and Breál had decided to retrace the Athens to Sparta run in 1896, rather than Marathon to Athens? Would that mean 150-mile running would be the generic measure of human endurance? Perhaps so, although 26.2 miles is long enough for most people, including myself.

It’s also possible to retrace that original distance as part of the Athens Classic Marathon, which is staged next month, although, given the anniversary, all places are long booked out.

More here

donothoponpop

Report of the race, which sounds like running through a Salvadore Dali painting.

Emer911

Just read John's race report.
Awesome just doesn't even begin to touch it!!
I'm just completely blown away by the momentous effort and achievement of it!

Congrats to both John and Eddie.