Running is hard. Running marathons is really hard. Running marathons in Antartica is beyond hard. Running 100 miles in one day in Antartica is what a Galway man did recently.
Richard Donovan from Galway is probably the toughest runner on earth. In temperatures of -25C, he ran for 24 hours 35 minutes and two seconds, covering 100 miles, the furthest anyone has ever travelled on foot in one day on the world’s coldest continent.
Speaking of his feat in today’s Irish Independent Donovan said: “I did feel one of my eyes freeze and I certainly had blurry vision for a short time, but nothing much came of it.”
“I thought I’d have a little snowblindness as my eyes were completely bloodshot at the finish, but nothing developed. In fact, my lips and nose appear to be the only body parts showing the physical impact of the cold – they are swollen, scabbed and weather beaten, but will heal in a few days.”
Donovan is an expert in both ultra-marathons and polar running so he’s not the average jogger you bump into on the pavement.
In 2009, he ran seven marathon distances on seven continents in a world record 5 days 10 hours and 8 minutes, something that sounds frankly impossible to us.
In short, the man is a marvel and we feel knackered even reading about his exploits.
