Ahead of Killarney Adventure Race Mark Pollock talks to us about motivation

JOE speaks to Mark Pollock, one of Ireland’s most inspiring people, ahead of the Killarney Adventure Race on 6th October.

Mark Pollock became the first blind man in 2009 to reach the South Pole, and following that success Pollock suffered a horrific fall that has left him paralysed.

A frequent contributor in the Irish media and as a motivational speaker, Pollock is now setting new goals.

His Run in the Dark event takes place in November in Dublin, Cork, Belfast, London, Manchester and New York to raise money for charities.

He also recently presented Beyond Limits highlighting the training of Ireland’s Paralympic team that has achieved so much.

If you’re not risking failure, you’re probably just coasting and it’s not worth doing for yourself. That’s also the exciting thing about doing anything.

He is also hoping to regain his ability to walk. He is also helping to promote the Killarney Adventure Race which takes place on the 6^th October. Ahead of that event we spoke to Pollock on goals and motivations.

JOE: Mark you have just finished the Beyond Limits programme on Ireland's Paralympic athletes on Setanta. Could you relate to their stories?

MP: Yes.

I think both from the way they approach their different sports, even though I’m not a Paralympian myself, and from a disability perspective I think I could see where they are coming from on both sides.

I think it starts with the goal, with the ambition to get a gold medal, to qualify for the Paralympics... to be the best they can be in their sport. Once they understand what the goal is and why they’re going for it...once the goal is right - all the difficulties become part of the game.

I can also talk in a sense because I went from being a sports person with no disabilities, to being a sports person that’s blind, to being a sports person who is blind and paralysed. Sports people are in the business of setting goals and that becomes part of who you are.

JOE: Everyone around the country who has come to know you and your story was upset to hear about your fall – how are you doing now?

Well I’m out and about and I suppose it is my sporting background that is driving the way I’m approaching my injury. Whether I go on to recover and walk again, which is highly unlikely, the health benefits from training and being fit both physically and mentally are extremely positive.

When I was lying in hospital for months and months I mentally felt terrible and physically felt awful, whereas when I’ve been training I’ve really felt the improvement.

Now I have two goals: My long, long term ambition is to walk again and whether that is a combination of training, medical and robotic innovations – it will probably be all three – I have a goal to get back into sport and adventuring and that will be back in deserts, snow and water, so I have my goals but I want to have those adventures along the way.

JOE: A lot of people are aware of your story now and look to you for inspiration. Is that something that you actively consider – that “I am inspiring a lot of people and I have to continue doing this” – is that responsibility and honour something that ever weighs on your mind?

MP: I am very conscious that I have been backed and supported by a lot of people.

My resolve to deal with the challenges that I face are matched by the people that continue to support me and I’m not just talking about a few people, as you mentioned there have been thousands of people that have supported me.

We have an event in November Run in the Dark where people all over the world will come together to support me in my goal to walk again and a number of charities...I want to deliver on those goals. So there is a responsibility but only of my making....I feel a responsibility in a good way.

JOE: As I said a lot of people know your story and have heard it in the media but what is the question, that is pertinent or gets to the core of you and your story, that has never been asked in an interview of you?

MP: [Long Pause] Let me think...  [Another Pause] Maybe this is question Mark, maybe this is the question! [Laughs]

I think no matter how many times I say it - but maybe I get too much credit for ‘me’ doing it all. It’s difficult to say that because sportspeople say that all time and it’s difficult to articulate the importance of the people I have around me.

What comes from me is the direction and the goal I want to set and after that it’s the people around me that help me achieve them.

Simon who helped train me for the South Pole, without him I wouldn’t even have been fit for the starting the line.

My fiancée, family and friends - without them I don’t think I would have got through that dark period when I was lying in a hospital bed wondering would I ever recover, walk or talk about setting goals again.

Once the direction is there, the fuel comes from the people around me.

JOE: There has been a lot of talk this week about what human beings are capable of with the Paralympics and the passing of Neil Armstrong.

I believe Armstrong flew to the moon on an apparatus that had as much computing power as a modern digital camera...do you think there are similarities between those stories and yours in the wider sense of what humans can overcome when they are truly focused?

MP: The Neil Armstrong and moon landing story is interesting. I think it is ultimately a story of ambition.

When the American president said that they wanted to put a man on the moon it was an outrageous goal and they ended up doing it faster than they expected.

I think the message that Neil Armstrong and the people behind that story and also the paralympians speak to is that you have to be ambitious and you have to be ambitious enough to push yourself and risk failure.

If you’re not risking failure, you’re probably just coasting and it’s not worth doing for yourself. That’s also the exciting thing about doing anything.

The team coming back from the Olympics, the paralympians, GAA, soccer or rugby players whether they win or lose they’re putting themselves out there.

Whether it’s that or landing on the moon or in my own case going to the South Pole...or saying I want to walk again.

That’s my ambition - I may never get there, but why not? Why not explore the possibilities? Push the boundaries and if it doesn’t work for me it might work for someone else in 20, 40 or 60 years.

That’s what I take from the paralympians I met, your own example and Neil Armstrong passing away and a lot of other people.

It’s an extremely uncomfortable place to be when you’re on the brink of failure, but that’s where the satisfaction comes from I think.