DUBLINER JOHN O’Regan will be among 440 ultra-marathon runners aiming to finish one of the world’s most gruelling races when the Spartathlon begins in Greece this morning.
The race involves running the 246km (152.85 mile) journey from Athens to Sparta in less than 36 hours.
The challenge has a 70 per cent drop-out rate, and athletes have spoken of having hallucinations before reaching the finish line.
The Spartathlon was inspired by Herodotus’s description of the Athenian messenger Pheidippides who arrived in Sparta the day after leaving Athens in 490 BC. He was sent by his generals to seek reinforcements against a Persian incursion.
This year marks the 2,500th anniversary of that journey.
The Spartathlon runs over rough tracks, rain-soaked paths and steep hills, and includes a 1,200m night climb and descent of Mount Parthenio.
Mr O’Regan (41), originally from Ballybough, Dublin, but now living in Leixlip, Co Kildare, said it would be his biggest challenge yet.
He has competed in some of the world’s most extreme marathons and ultra-marathons, including the Marathon des Sables, a 151-mile race through the Sahara desert. He also took part in the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon, where he assisted blind explorer Mark Pollock.
The CIÉ employee was a co-winner of the 2008 Inca Trail to Machu Picchu Marathon and also won the 100-mile Yukon Arctic Ultra in 2005. He said he was under no illusions about the magnitude of the task, but he was confident he could do it.
Eddie Gallen and Samuel Kilpatrick, both originally from Northern Ireland, are also competing in the race.
Cork-born John McCarthy was one of three Royal Air Force officers who successfully took part in a trial run in 1982 to see if it was possible to follow in Pheidippides’s steps. The first international Spartathlon was held the following year.
John O’Regan’s blog is at http://johnoregan.blogspot.com
