Éamonn Cashin joy after completing ‘coolest race on earth’

Running 42 kilometres seems a daunting task to many people but imagine attempting it in the Tundra in knee deep snow, surrounded by ice and snowstorms in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees celsius, only to get up he very next day and run a further 21 kilometres in the same conditions.

Not only did Éamonn Cashin complete Greenland’s Polar Bear Challenge, he finished seventh overall, ahead of several US Navy Seals, less than two years after a serious accident in which he suffered extensive injuries.

On December 11, 2013, Éamonn was struck by a car while riding his bicycle. He suffered brain injuries, partial loss of sight, a broken coccyx, vertigo and reduced hearing. Last weekend, the UCC student became the first Irish person ever to complete the Polar Bear Challenge, otherwise known as “The coolest race on earth,” just three days before his 35th birthday.

“Is it life changing?” he asked. “Yes, it probably is.”

“The temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees,” Éamonn said, recalling the snowstorm which engulfed the racers during Saturday’s marathon. “It was like for all the world being on the beach and having the sand smashing into your face while you run five or six miles in knee deep snow.”

“It was definitely challenging.”

“You can prepare the best you can,” he said. “You can run mountains and hills but there’s both physical and mental battles going on and some people struggled with that.”

Éamonn recalled how the pre-race favourite, a Japanese runner, who has experienced success around the world in similar events, struggled to cope with the harsh conditions.

“It took him a lot more than five hours (to complete the marathon),” said Éamonn. “He ran off course and ran around in circles.”

“So was it the most difficult thing I’ve ever done? Yes, definitely.”

Running the marathon on Saturday, Éamonn fell four times, once rolling his left ankle, but he managed to get up and finish the race in under 4 hours and 15 minutes.

He conceded that there are times in any race where you will want to give up but that’s a decision that you’re going to have to make.

“Your inner voice says stop or get up and luckily enough for me it said get up,” said Éamonn.

“You just have to make a decision,” he added. “Do you stop and give up or do you keep moving?”

“Do you put the left foot in front of the right and keep moving? That’s what I did.”

While he was determined to finish the challenge, Éamonn knew the importance of running responsibly with his own health and recovery in mind.

“I ran the races very responsibly,” he said. “There was no point attacking it and having to finish early or end up crawling over the line or walking over it in an unfit state.”

He recalled the advice his father gave him before he left for Greenland. “He said Éamonn, don’t be a fathaíocht, which comes from fathach to mean giant or big man. He laughed on the phone when he heard I’d finished.”

“I crossed the line with a smile on my face and my fist in the air knowing what I’d achieved.”

Éamonn saw this race and it’s completion as a huge milestone as he continues his recovery. “It’s getting to the start line successfully and getting to the finish line successfully, that’s what it’s all about.”

He added that the road to recovery now seems less daunting.

“It will be boosted by what I achieved out there in Greenland.”

Éamonn has now returned to Ireland and is looking forward to returning to UCC where he studies Sports Studies and Physical Education. He is set to have ankle surgery in November on an injury sustained in the accident two years ago.

He may have just completed the Polar Bear Challenge, one of the most difficult tests of endurance in the world but Éamonn said he’s not finished yet.

“There’s a couple of ideas floating around my head as to what challenge will be next and there is going to be a challenge.”

“I’ll have to talk to my family and my wife Claire and do what’s best for her and my son Paddy and take everything into account but yes, there is going to be something in 2016.”