Crossmolina's ultra-marathon man

MIDNIGHT had just passed and a new day would soon dawn over southern Morocco.
In a corner of the Sahara Desert, a Crossmolina man lay down to rest for a moment.
Every fibre of his body was crying out; every sinew screaming for relief from the relentless journey that Barry Loftus was immersed in.
Four days into the toughest race on the planet — Marathon des Sables — the ultra-athlete was in the midst of the biggest challenge of his life. He had planned it, he had trained for it, he had caressed and driven his mind to be ready for the mental demands, but as he brought his legs to a stop and lay under the starry sky, he was at a life-altering moment.
Sixteen hours of relentless running had passed since Day 4 began.
It seemed so long ago.
Day one had been tough as 30.3km had been run in the searing heat. Day two had been tough as 39km passed beneath his feet. Day three had been tough as 31.6km were chalked off, but Day four was testing him to the very core of his being.
“There’s a grim side to the Marathon des Sables,” the former Mayo minor footballer told The Mayo News this week after returning home to Ireland.
“There’s the battle being constantly waged between Instagram and reality, and seeing it first hand is a huge learning experience. The organisers are ruthless in the extreme and the ‘warrior’ pictures on social media are a long way removed from the real thing.
“I didn’t carry a phone as it was an extra half kilo I couldn’t afford to carry through the desert. “So the only contact I had with my wife, Alma, was e-mail. But the tent with the computer and e-mail connection was 300 metres from my tent each night and after day one and day two I just couldn’t get there. It was testing me and I didn’t get to send an e-mail until day three and then it went into her spam folder. But that’s another story,” he laughed before going on to describe his resting places during the gruelling race.
“We slept, eight to a tent, held up by poles, with the sides open. There was no glamour to it, but we had no interest in creature comforts at that stage.
“We’d wake up around four in the morning and start getting ready for the day. The stage would start at seven in the morning so that we could cover as much ground as we could before it became impossible. The heat was savage.
“It went up to 52 degrees and had a massive impact. There were a huge amount of people dropping out and that was tough to see. I tried to give people the privacy to suffer, but it was a test of the human spirit in every way imaginable. It was horrendous at times,” he explained before taking the story back to day four as he lay beneath the stars.
“I reached the rest-stop after 63km and lay down for a minute. I had been running for about 16 hours at that stage through the day and into the night so things were testing to say the least. I lay down and must have drifted off to sleep. I suppose the body was craving rest and I wasn’t even thinking at that stage. 
“I was drifting into a deep sleep and then, from somewhere, I heard my own voice saying ‘Get up - you have to get up and go again.’ I’m not sure where that came from and I’ve never experienced anything like that before. It’s as if my second-self was there refusing to let me give up. I can’t explain it but I got up and kept going.”
He kept going and finished day four in a time of 22 and a half hours. It was a triumph of body and mind and, after completing the classic marathon distance of 42.2km the following day, he still  had the closing 7.7km trot to complete for his accreditation.
“That was awful. We got our medals after day five but wouldn’t be officially classified if we didn’t complete the 7.7km. It was horrendous. There were people with no skin on their feet trying to get to the end and it brought home to me the absolute ruthlessness of the whole thing. I wouldn’t encourage or discourage anyone to do it, but be aware of the difference between Instagram and reality.”

FACTFILE
Name: Barry Loftus
From: Crossmolina
Age: 41
Occupation: Personal Trainer/Fitness Instructor
Did you know? Barry completed Marathon des Sables in 48 hours, 41 minutes and 21 seconds.