He has put in the training miles and the gym work, along with hours of careful planning. Now RunIreland’s founder and owner Ray O’Connor is in Peru to take part in what has been described as the ‘toughest footrace on earth’, the Marathon Des Sables Peru.
Travelling through the desert by jeep or camel is no easy task at the best of times. Running through the sandy, arid, dune-laden terrain with a 10kg bag containing your running gear, food, bed and survival essentials on your back is something most people would consider crazy! Yet this is what Ray signed up for as his end of season challenge.
Ray and his fellow Athenry AC member and ultra-running specialist Ruthann Sheahan (who incidentally thought this event would be a great idea for a holiday!) faced the challenge of covering 250km across the Ica desert in sizeable daily chunks of 30km to 80km. Also flying the flag for Ireland is Leitrim’s Thomas Reynolds who is no stranger to racing in the heat or over long distances.
The event began three days ago with a 37k trek to start the runners off on their South American adventure. This was followed by two more 37k treks. Ray is now taking on Stage 4, the toughest day of the six-stage event, with participants having 32 hours to complete a 68.2k run through the desert.
In advance of jetting off to Peru, Ray had a chat with our resident chatterbox & race announcer Joanne, you can view the informative and insightful interview HERE
You can follow the progress of the race on the link below and also send messages of support HERE
Follow the progress of the Irish Athletes HERE
Ruthann Sheahan number 0051
Ray O’Connor number 0139
Thomas Reynolds number 0106
Ray’s participation is supported by Osprey Europe, Spyderco and Petzl
Go n-éirí an bóthar libh
*Photo Credit MDSPERU
