By Paul O’Donovan
Mullingar’s Iron Man Gerry Duffy completed another extraordinary achievement when he completed the ‘Conn 100’ last Saturday in Connemara.
The ‘Conn 100’ event saw 27 athletes go to the start of an extremely difficult endurance race in which the athletes had to run 100 miles around Connemara, in Co. Galway.
Gerry posted a remarkable time of 18 hours, 24 minutes and 59 seconds for the 100-mile road race, which was run over a difficult course with the finish line at Clifden. This is the equivalent of running four marathons in one day. To think about it would just make most people very tired, but not Gerry Duffy, who relishes such extreme challenges.
Gerry, probably best known for his marathon exploits a few years ago when he completed 32 marathons in 32 days around Ireland, is no stranger to these endurance events and not surprisingly he was delighted to finish the event.
Gerry, who produced a magnificent run to finish fourth of the 27 starters, told Topic this week, “I was delighted just to finish the event. I had an idea of a time that I wanted to finish the event in and I was very close to that time. After just six miles I jarred my knee, and had to change my stride for the next 19 miles until my physio Alvin Thornton gave me treatment and got me back on track again. I felt very good throughout the run and was very positive all the way. Obviously you do reach some low moments like when I was at 40 miles and I thought to myself I still have another ten miles to go just to get to half way! But having said that I always felt I would finish the event. When I got to the finish line, which was just 25 minutes after midnight, I was wearing my head torch and when I crossed the finish line I literally had to be carried back to our van,” said Gerry, relieved that the challenge was now behind him.
“I must thank my great support team, without them I wouldn’t have achieved this great feat. My sister Dorothy and her husband Enda, Alvin Thornton, my girlfriend Jacinta O’Neill, Brendan Doyle and Jim Breen, were all superb in their support. The logistics of the event, getting the right food, safety aspects and the psychology aspects were all vital. We had to run on the road, which was very busy with tourists, but in the end we got there,” said Gerry.
For the record the winner of the event was Brian Ankers in a superb time of 15 hours, 48 minutes. “This was my big ambition for the year, it will take me about three weeks to recover properly, so for the moment I just want to chill,” said a delighted Gerry. One wonders what is next for this remarkable Iron Man of Mullingar.
