The 100 mile man from Kiezliny

Spit out a few household name’s in long distance athletic’s. There won’t be an ultra runner among  them, but if your on the search for inspirational sportspeople you could be in the right place.

Far from the madding crowd’s of high profile hero’s, there dwell’s a low profile community of long distance runner’s to which the marathon distance is run of the mill stuff. Ultra running is a sport that has grown considerably in recent year’s but it’s popularity doesn’t register when compared with the marathon, for 99.9% of runner’s that’s where the buck stops. Anything longer than a marathon is put neatly away in the ‘Ultra’ box, an obvious progression for the few who want to keep going after the 26.2 mile’s. The motivation’s vary and the material rewards are few. Running for the hell of it and because it is primarily what we were designed to do.

 Mick Rice, Thomas Budendorfer, Ruthann Sheehan? These are some of the star’s on the Irish scene. Veteran’s of a multitude of long distance competition’s, all living the normal life when they’re not wearing running shoe’s. Close on their heal’s is Fermoy based Pole Maciej Sawicki.

It’s not easy to mistake the man on his training run’s around the area, accompanied by his trusty labrador cross ‘Pepe’, A rescued dog who overcame his fear of human’s developed from his time with a previous owner, give’s a good indication of the favourable environment where he now reside’s. His master, a natural joker and a natural gent,  it’s easy to see how he has picked up a few more runner’s to join him on his long weekend run’s, normally covering between 25 and 30 mile’s.

Still smiling approaching the finish line in last year's Connemara 100

Over the last five year’s the trip to Clifden in the second week of August has become a tradition for Maciej, his wife and whoever else is willing to crew. This year is no different. Attracted to the area by it’s beauty as much as the race, he first ran the Connemarathon 39 mile ultra from Maam cross five year’s ago and decided to line up for the 100 mile at Clifden after being notified by email three months beforehand by race organiser Ray O Connor.  After confirming that the email was not for next year’s race, he signed up. Three month’s later he completed his first 100, got in the car and drove the four hour trip home. The start of a love affair with the race and west Connemara.

The Connemara 100 mile road race is Ireland’s longest ultra marathon and generally has a start list of no more than 25 hardened soul’s. A four time veteran of the race, A subtle confidence give’s the notion that he is hoping to break the 17hr mark this year. “I came close last year with 17.07, this year I don’t have the same mileage put in, but I’m fresher”.  Cautiously approaching the race, he has learnt a few lesson’s over the last few year’s, “Too many mile’s last year meant I suffered after the event and had to lay off for a few month’s, possibly due to overtraining on the lead up”. “This year my longest run was 30 mile’s in training, I’v just finished my last hard block of training last week, which left me tired but now I’m starting to feel good about it.”

  

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Take the long way home

I'v been laid up for the last few week's, not totally compulsory mind. Sore leg's after Ballyandereen followed by unprecendented good weather has seen my good form disappear for a while. With not a whole lot to write about and getting slightly embarassed about harping on about what I'm at, and still needing to satisfy my urge to push button's, here's something about a few local sporting heroes.

Over the last few year's big distance's have become standard fare around here. 'Ultra' as a word has become mainstream in the club and the one's who choose to take part are no longer seen as freak's. It's become normalised. On hearing it first I thought it was a wind-up, marathon's were the last word in distance running. Now, the joke is they use them for speedwork. Last year the club was represented in the connemarathon (39 miles), Dingle Ultra (50 miles) and the Connemara 100 (100 miles).
           
This week, Fermoy's claw's dug a little deeper into the ultra running scene, with Grange AC's Brendan O Mahoney finishing fourth in the waterfront marathon in Courtmacsherry and first timer Karen Kenny finishing 3rd lady over a 36 mile course on infamously heavy West Cork road's. Story goes, Karen is training for the Dublin city marathon in October and decided to line up to see how she'd get on!

Just last week Owen O Keefe, who made a name for himself a few year's back as being the youngest Irishman to swim the English channel became the fastest man to swim the 41 mile's around the Isle of Jersey in the Channel Islands in a time of 9hrs and 35min. Two week's earlier he was part of a four person relay to swim both way's across the channel, again in record time.

For the last 15 year's a group of cyclist's from Fermoy Cycling Club head for the Alp's and the Dolomite's to cover a few hundred miles over a few day's on some of the most mountainous road's in Europe, while doing the same on less mountainous road's for the rest of the year.

More recently, the triathlon club have had member's lining up in different Ironman competition's in various location's around Europe.

What is it with Fermoy folk and long distance sport?
My own experience on big distance's is more 'toe in the water' than 'addicted'. I can understand the highly desirable meditative state you can get into once you've found your 'rhythm', I can understand the less desirable state when struck with a sugar low (A marathoner's 'wall', a cyclist's 'knock'), a half empty 7up bottle on the side of the road can give welcome relief with 10 miles to go and the thought of a sugary cup of tea if you make it back to base is no more than a hallucinatory dream.

These sport's are great leveller's. Everyone's an island, each one's reaction to the onset of fatigue is different, someone who may not be as fast over a shorter distance become's over a short few hour's a 'giant' of the road who can go all day, while other mortal's fizzle out like a bath ball and limp back to town with their tail's between their leg's.

As a cyclist these distance's were normal and going out for less than a three hour ride was sometime's seen as a bit of a waste of time. After morphing into an old runner, the marathon seemed like a normal enough route to take. Chalk and cheese, a 4hr marathon equate's to a nine hour bike ride, to these leg's anyway, the metamorphosis is ongoing.

My first known encounter with an ultra runner was three year's ago when I was wiring a new bathroom, sharing the space with a tiler. Maciecj, a prominent ultra runner and regular podium finisher at the Connemara 100. That day, he told me he "does a bit of running", squeezing him for more I found out what "a bit of running" meant. It wasn't a bad handle of the English language but running 30 mile's on a Sunday morning equate's to "a bit of running" in Maciecj speak.  Like all great athlete's he acknowledged his achievement's with a shrug of the shoulder. A distinctive sight on the road's around Fermoy, accompanied by his tough little black labrador cross, 'Pepe'. This was Fermoy's first ooltra (Polish pronounciatiation) runner. The meeting's became more frequent after that and the joker came out. An entertainer on the long run's, his infectious enthusiasm has been passed on, I suspect, to more than he think's.

In my curiosity for figuring out the man and the popularity of long distance sport's in the backwater by the Blackwater, we recently spent an evening on our feet shooting the breeze, Keep an eye on the next post for more on Poland's answer to Scott Jurek and the rest of Fermoy's mile munchers.