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Extreme runner’s 300 mile Arctic adventure!
If it came down to sorting out the odd socks accumulating for years in the chest of drawers or running 300 miles pulling your own sled in sub-zero temperatures across one of the remotest places in the world, most people would choose the painstaking chore of matching up their odd socks . . . right?
Not extreme adventure and Knocknacarra man Gavan Hennigan, who is currently one of 35 competitors taking on the Yukon Arctic Ultra 300 mile race in temperatures of between -20 to -50 in the wilds of Canada.
He confesses he would rather do that – or run across a frozen lake in Siberia or row across the Atlantic Sea, both of which, by the way, he intends to do later this year – than embrace the mundane task of tackling his sock drawer. It’s on his list. Just not top of it.
Hennigan is a man who loves the feeling of being alive. However, it was not always so, as he told the 400 people who turned up to hear his remarkable story at the inaugural Tri Talking Sport evening run by founder and presenter Joanne Murphy at the Salthill Hotel last week.
A drug addict by the time he was 21 – living on the floor of a sparse London flat – Hennigan battled his way through “dark times” before finally coming back home to enter rehab and being the process of putting his life back together.
It wasn’t easy. Far from it. He tried to kill himself and ended up in the psychiatric ward in Galway. Added to this, Hennigan had to come to terms with his own sexuality – of being gay. “And I couldn’t deal with that,” he bravely told a captive audience.
With no Leaving Cert and unable to drive, he left for Australia to seek out a new beginning ten years ago and ended up becoming a deep sea diver, working on oil rigs in places as far flung as Russia and Africa.
His job would consist of spending up to 28 days at a time with three to nine other men in a pressurised container up to 200metres under the sea, carrying out heavy construction, fitting or wielding.
“The job really opened up the world to me,” Hennigan told the Tribune last week. “I worked all over the world, many different places, and it has been an amazing journey. It was great to have a chance at life again and to go from what I was facing – which, ultimately, was death from alcohol and drugs – to being able to travel and fill up nearly three passports.”
With oil prices dropping, due to oversupply, the work has presently dried up. In order to sate his hunger for the extreme though, Hennigan decided to dip into his savings. “The diving itself was almost like an adventure for me. I love that job.
“Now I just want to look elsewhere for things to challenge myself. That is where the idea of doing this ultra marathon and these other tough challenges came in. I want to test my mettle and my mental strength in these areas.
“Hopefully, while doing so, I can also inspire others to get out there. It doesn’t have to be an ultra marathon, it can be a 5km or 10km – just be out there and enjoying the world a bit more.”
Surely there are easier ways to do that than risking life and limb. “This is what happens when you don’t drink. You end up doing crazy things,” he laughs. “I am sure there are easier things but for me I have been always drawn to the wilderness and wild places around the world.”
Consequently, as you read this, the 34-year-old – who is also undertaking these events to raise money for a child he knows with cerebral palsy and who needs an operation – has departed Whitehorse, Yukon, with his sled and equipment in tow.
The non stop, self-sufficient race, founded in 2003, is billed as the toughest ultra marathon in the world where the temperatures can drop to -50 degrees plus wind chill.
“So, frostbite is very real out there,” continued the Galway man. “You have to wear a lot of layers of clothes, you cover up all your skin and you have to take on a lot of calories and really look after yourself.
“You also have to be hyper-aware of the conditions and yourself. It is a huge test not only physically but mentally. You have to stay in the race by looking after yourself. That is really important.
“I am flying completely solo out there but there will be checkpoints along the way and people helping me out. Ultimately though, it is up to me to carry all my equipment in my sled, which I will be dragging behind me, and to look after myself.”
Just to put it all in perspective, Hennigan’s extreme adventure begins less than a fortnight after the death of SAS veteran, Henry Worsley, as he attempted to complete the first solo crossing of Antarctica. The 55-year-old died 30 miles short of his goal.
With another adventure across Lake Baikal – the world’s largest freshwater lake – in southern Siberia scheduled for March and an attempt to row solo across the Atlantic Sea in the pipeline for later in the year, it would make you wonder if Hennigan, himself, has a death wish.
“People must be wondering if I do or not,” he grins. “You do have the rational fears of the boat capsizing or getting frostbite or whatever, but a lot of these things can be managed. So, for me, a lot of those are controllable.
“There is a lot of stuff however out of my control and I suppose it is just about taking the chance really. Of course, these things are not worth dying for but they are worth living for. It is completely worth living for to go out and try these things. I didn’t get clean from alcohol and drugs to live a mundane life. I wanted excitement and I wanted fun and this is where I find it.”
Yet Hennigan is also motivated by another factor. “I am raising a bit of money for a young lad called Johan Jacobsen and his family – his mother Breda is from Galway – and I am trying to raise the money to get him an operation. He has cerebral palsy, he is two years old, and he is unable to walk at the moment.
“So, that is a big motivator for me. I am quite lucky that I am able to get out there and do stuff like this. That is a big driving force to be able to help those guys out as well,” concludes the extreme adventurer.
■ For anyone who would like to follow Gavan’s adventures or donate to this worthy cause, visit his Facebook page. As of this week, he has already raised in excess of €4,000.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
