Mark Pollock:Taking on marathons high and low
In 1998 Mark Pollock was a final-year student in Trinity, an international rower and had a job offer in the bag from a London finance house. The world was his oyster. Then in a devastating two-week period he suddenly went blind.
"I was born short-sighted and had a few operations over the years but there was never a discussion about losing my sight. When I was in Trinity I was cycling around Dublin with no problems and was able to drive. I was fine."
He remembers the fateful day well - at rowing he noticed his vision was blurry. Going home worried, he hoped it would be better the next day. But despite several emergency operations, by the end of the month he was completely blind.
"The shock was unbearable. I didn't know anything about being blind and I thought that blind people couldn't do anything. I had no identity. Up to then I was a student, sportsman, potential businessman. Now I was just blind. All my friends were graduating and moving on to work and I was sitting at home in Co Down."
Over the next four years, Pollock recaptured his pre-blindness identity. "The three cornerstones of my life up to then were work, sport and study so I was determined to get back to those three things. My guide dog Larry arrived in 1999 and I discovered I could use a computer, which was massive for me."
He did interviews with finance companies, but there were no takers. "Very few knew anything about taking on a blind person," he says. Pollock had gone to college with the daughter of Philip Lynch, then a director of the food group IAWS. "I think he recognised that I just needed a start. He hired me to do e-commerce and treasury projects. It gave me the confidence that I could function in a workplace."
Pollock also returned to study, completing a master's at Smurfit Business School. "I didn't sit my finals in Trinity but they awarded me an aegrotat (certificate allowing for illness) degree based on the work I had done. I did better in my master's than I did in Trinity. I think I felt I had something to prove."
He also started rowing again. "I was lucky that rowing was my chosen sport - you are going backwards anyway so sight is not that important," he laughs. "I hooked up with a friend of mine and we set the Commonwealth Games as our goal. We went to the Games in 2002 and won a silver and a bronze. That was a huge turning point - apart from the medals, just being fit and enjoying the craic with friends. I felt normal again."
In late 2002, Pollock had a chance encounter with adventurer and motivational speaker Myles Hilton-Barber, who is also blind. "I was really influenced by him. He told me I should give motivational speaking a go. I was asked by Shell to do a lecture on overcoming challenges and that was the start of it." Pollock now runs his own company, giving lectures on innovation and resilience at events and to corporate customers. He has also written a book, Making it Happen.
In 2004, on the sixth anniversary of the day he went blind, Pollock competed in the North Pole Marathon, running in snow shoes in -40 degree temperatures. Later that year he did the Gobi March: six marathons in one week in the desert. "I think I had a real chip on my shoulder," is how he explains this punishing schedule. "I was battling to prove that blindness wasn't an issue when of course it's a major issue. I've moved on. I still do the races but it's purely for sport's sake."
When we spoke he was gearing up for yesterday's Dead Sea marathon, the lowest marathon in the world, before tackling the highest marathon in the world, the Everest marathon, in May. He will race both with team-mate John O'Regan, raising money for Fighting Blindness and Guide Dogs for the Blind in the UK.
Successful businessman, marathon runner. Blindness no longer defines him. "Yeah," he agrees. "I'm just busy living my life." www.markpollock.com
In conversation with Michael Kelly