Another weekend, another trip to Italy....this time for the World 24 hour running championships. Bergamo is agreeing with us greatly so far....a little hotter than I'd like but a beautiful civilised place and the organisers seem to be on top of everything. Just walked the course and they seem to be carpetting the concrete and brick portions which is a very nice touch.
We're staying in the Hotel Mercure which is also a major improvement on the other "athlete villages" I've experienced. The Irish delegation is 6: four athletes and two officials. The other athletes are new national record holder Eoin Keith who is capable of pushing through the 240 km barrier and be an actual medal contender, Thomas Maguire (national 100 Km record holder and highest ever Irish finisher in the world championships when he was 6th in the World 100K in Seoul a couple of years ago: if Thomas clicks, he is also capable of 240+) and Eddie Gallen (current national champion, and in the form of his life having set two PBs in a month late last year). The legend that is Richard Donovan unfortunately cried off due to injuries apparently inflicted in his recent 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents lunacy.
The officials are the other legend of Irish ultrarunning, Tony Mangan (current world record holder for 48 hours indoor, and 48 hours treadmill) and Mireille, the only Italian speaker in the group.
Live updates from the race which starts at 10 AM local time tomorrow can be had at http://www.iau-ultramarathon.org/mediacenter.php and http://www.runnersbg.eu/
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4 comments:
48....hour.....treadmill....?
you people need serious psychological assistance
Yes, there are worse cases out there, something I find slightly reassuring
In ancient greece Dokeonious ran 26 miles back from the Plain of Marathon to Athens, to bring news of the Athenian victory over the Persians but unfortunaely Dokeonius was a running degenerate and overshoot Athens by 150 miles and instead brought the news to two goat herders and their old hag mother.
There was great rejoicing
Good luck to yourself Dara & my 'alter ego'.
See you at the JP Masters next week.
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