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The Interview Attymass man Mark Scanlon is running seven marathons on seven continents in seven months.
Marathon man
Ballina man Mark Scanlon is running seven marathons on seven continents in seven months
The Interview Daniel Carey A COUPLE of weeks ago, Mark Scanlon started ringing frozen food companies to ask if he could go for a run in their freezers. Not surprisingly, most thought he was joking. But then he explained that next December, he’ll be running the Ice Marathon in the Antarctic in temperatures of minus 36 degrees, and wants to get his lungs used to breathing in those kind of conditions. Suitably impressed, a few of those he approached have come back with offers. Not even Ernest Shackleton or Tom Crean thought of running in the Antarctic, but then, neither did they plan to run seven marathons on seven continents in seven months. That’s the quest facing Scanlon, a native of Attymass near Ballina, who has come up with the 777 Challenge in a bid to raise €50,000 for the Irish Cancer Society. Having already completed the San Francisco Marathon, he will travel to Longford next Sunday, August 26, for the European leg of his mission. Mark’s father, Kieran, died of cancer in 1999, and he has long wanted to do something for the Irish Cancer Society. “I was thinking of what to do to raise money, so originally, I came up with the idea of breaking some sort of a record, because I thought that would entice people to donate,” he told The Mayo News. “One night around 11 o’clock, I was looking through the Guinness Book of Records, and I came across this guy who had run seven marathons on seven continents over the space of about five years. I had run two marathons already, in Dublin and Barcelona, so I knew that I could actually run one. I thought if I ran the seven of them over seven months, it might be quite a personal challenge. I can tell you, after one, it’s definitely looking like a challenge at this stage!” Scanlon is easy company, relaxed and engaging, but it’s clear that he is strong-minded and focused on his goal. Motivation hasn’t been a problem ‘Short of losing a leg in the Antarctic’, he says with a laugh, he doesn’t intend to quit before the end of any race … and even then, ‘I’ll probably crawl to the finish line!’ Having pitched the idea to the Irish Cancer Society, he officially launched the Challenge – on July 7, 2007, appropriately enough – at the UCD athletics track. Then it was off to San Francisco for stage one. His ‘home’ marathon takes place in Longford on Sunday, and he’s heading to Sydney, Australia next month. Late September/early October will see him undertake two marathons in six days – Nairobi (Kenya) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). The trip to Antarctica is scheduled for December 12, with the final piece in the jigsaw happening in Mumbai, India, in January. “I suppose people I know might expect me to be doing something mad!” he chuckles. “With fellow runners, it’s different, because the advice from any of the people who are familiar with running is that you should run one marathon per year. So when you tell them that you’re running seven in seven months, they think it’s probably crazy, and their advice is quite simply ‘don’t do it’! But once I tell them that I’m doing it for the Cancer Society, and they see how determined I am, they’re hugely supportive.” Among those who have pledged donations are people he met running the San Francisco Marathon. Having arrived into the city at 12.30am the night before the run, he rose at 4am to collect his registration pack and number. The race began at 6am – ‘a nice time to run, because it’s cool – there’s still fog around at that time’. It began with a run across the Golden Gate Bridge before an eight-mile stretch of hills tested the competitors’ resolve. Despite the tough conditions, Scanlon ‘found it easy to keep going’ and was just glad to be finally ‘up and running’ in every sense of the phrase. “It was easier than running a marathon normally, [because I’ve] got a very specific cause in mind. I suppose that makes it psychologically easier, at least. I finished it in four hours and eleven minutes. I was glad to see the finish at that stage, of course, but I think it went well. It was nice to get one of the seven done, and I guess the real fund-raising kicks off now.” Fund-raising and preparing for the 777 Challenge has put him into contact with all kinds of people. His former German teacher in St Muredach’s College, Ballina – which he attended after going to primary school in Attymass and Bofield – got in touch to pledge his support. Senator Shane Ross (whom Scanlon knew from his time at Trinity College) has agreed to solicit donations in Leinster House (a rare case of politicians giving money, one might say!). Ex-Irish international runner Eamonn Tierney, whom he met while out jogging, suggested he call Adam Smith from the Rathfarnham WSAF Club, who now draws up his weekly training schedule. This generally consists of an hour-long run on Mondays and Wednesdays, sprint runs on Tuesdays and Saturdays, plyometric exercises and more sprints with the Rathfarnham club on Thursdays, a half-hour jog on Fridays (‘the easy day’), and a long run lasting up to two hours on a Sunday. As all donations in connection with the Challenge go straight to the Irish Cancer Society, Scanlon is covering the costs of the undertaking himself. However, he is hoping a corporate sponsor may come on board to share that burden. Apart from training and fund-raising, his lifestyle and diet have also been transformed. Man cannot live on bread alone, particularly when training for a marathon (or seven). Scanlon eats about seven pieces of fruit and four portions of vegetables each day. He gets his carbohydrates through pasta, brown rice, potatoes and brown toast. Mornings mean porridge, while red meat, eggs, and additional portions of dairy account for most of his protein intake. He has given up alcohol for the duration (‘It’s just not something you can do while you’re training’) and has drastically reduced his coffee intake, which was ‘probably the bit’ he ‘found hardest’. That preparation on and off the road stood him in good stead in San Francisco. Conscious that he might pick up an injury after the first of the seven marathons, he forced himself out for a long walk the following day and went for a massage the day after that. Five days after the race, he was back in training along his regular route in south Dublin. Scanlon is based in Ranelagh, Co Dublin, where he works for a sales and marketing branding company called IBR, which he set up himself in 2005 while still at college. He studied electronic engineering in NUI Galway, and then did an MBA in Trinity. The youngest of a family of seven, all his siblings (Keith, Donna, Rory, Karl, Neasa and Niamh) are ‘involved in organising or supporting in one way or another’, as is his mother Ann. “The marathon can humble you,” the American long-distance runner Bill Rodgers once said. So can the people running it.
Those wishing to join Mark Scanlon for one of the marathons can email friends@777challenge.com. Anyone wishing to follow his progress or donate to his chosen charity can visit the website www.777challenge.com. Donations can also be sent to the Irish Cancer Society at 43/45 Northumberland Road, Dublin 4.
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