A Galway economist has become the first person to complete a marathon at both the North and South poles.
Mr Richard Donovan (35) is now on his way back to Ireland, having completed his North Pole marathon on Friday.
The race organised by Global Expeditions was held earlier than planned when he suspected that a US group was also planning the attempt. His marathon time was three hours, 48 minutes.
Richard was running at the exact geographic North Pole in windchill temperatures as low as -60 degrees with winds of 60 km an hour, according to his promoters. He was also running with the knowledge that less than 12 feet under the ice surface lay the 12,000 foot deep Arctic Ocean.
He ran wearing a flotation device, in case he fell through the ice, and a rope to throw to rescuers. He also carried a Global Positioning System device to officially record the distance and route. At one point, he had to be airlifted to a short distance away because of worsening weather conditions. He finished the remaining 8.1 miles in atrocious conditions, including a "white-out". This is like an extremely dense fog where you cannot differentiate the ground from the sky.
"It's like running in the dark, you just can't see anything," explained his brother Paul, a former Olympian athlete. He said his younger brother only described himself as "an average runner". By day, Richard runs CEA Economic Consultants in Galway.
Ten weeks ago, Richard won the South Pole marathon, finishing 1.5 miles ahead of professional US athlete Mr Dean Karnazes. Three athletes finished the race in treacherous conditions at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Richard's time was eight hours and 52 minutes - 26 minutes ahead of Dean Karnazes.
This win was against the odds. He had damaged his right knee a week before the race and a surgeon told him he had a 50 per cent chance of completing a regular road marathon.
He arrives back in Dublin on Wednesday but will not be home for long as he is attempting to run seven ultra marathons in seven continents this year. An ultra marathon is a race of more than 26 miles.
Richard is doing this to raise funds for the development agency GOAL and the Galway Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. His progress can be followed on the website www.sevencontinents.ie
