Outsider People of the Year 2011

I'm happy to announce that for the second year in a row I've made the Outsider People of the Year List.  Totally unexpected but I'll take it and it's a great way to end a great year.

John O’Regan – Irish 24-hour track record holder

Many of you will be familiar with John O’Regan’s ultra-running feats and indeed he even features in last year’s list. But having set a new Irish 24-hour track record of 132 miles back in July, we just couldn’t leave him out.

John’s other achievements include completing the Spartathalon (246km), finishing an ultra-marathon or marathon on each of the seven continents and the North Pole, including the most northern (North Pole), most southern (Antarctica), highest (Everest) and lowest (Dead Sea) races in the world. He finished first in the 100 Mile Yukon Arctic Ultra, first in the Inca Trail Marathon and second in the Antarctic Ice Marathon. Not bad for someone who only started running in 2002.

John states, “I think my strength is mental. I’m able to switch off and stay in the moment. I don’t think of the finish line; I break it down into smaller manageable pieces.

“I try to fit the training into my life rather than my life into the training. I often commute from Leixlip by running. I run during lunch. At weekends, I go out early in the morning and when my training requires longer runs, I start earlier.

“I accidentally found what my game was. Maybe that’s because I was always looking; I was always trying different things. My watershed moment was when I read an article about the Marathons des Sables. I started running in April 2002, ran the Dublin Marathon just to see if I had it in me and then did the 150-mile Sahara Race in April 2003.”

John, who is sponsored by Great Outdoors, also competed at the 100km World Championships in September.

Note: The Track Record mentioned is for the Mary Peters Track and not the Official Irish Track Record which is held by Eoin Keith.