Visually Impaired Runner Sinead Kane from Cork completes Volcano Marathon in South America

Sinead Kane who is from Youghal in Co.Cork today completed the Volcano Marathon in Chile in South America. This is one of the most grueling marathons on the continent with a start altitude of 4,475 metres (14,682 feet). That's no too far off the height of Mt.Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe so the thin air is a major factor. With the clear skies and dry conditions, it makes for a really hard challenge.

Sinead's time was just over 8 hours. To put that in perspective, the first man finished in 4h 42m.

Sinead's guide on this occasion was John O'Regan who is an Irish International Ultra-Runner.

Back in July of this year, Sinead completed the Belfast 12 hour race for her longest ultra to date.

What's next??

Race on giant treadmill in Chile next weekend

This is perhaps one of the strangest races ever. Next weekend, the Chilean firm Oxford Fitness are organising a race on a treadmill that can hold 10 runners at once. For the first hour, the treadmill will speed will be 10kph (9:39 minutes/mile). In the second hour, the speed will be gradually increased until only one runner is left. Four of these races will be held.

See the promo video below...

The Runner - Edison Pena

So who is Edison Pena?

He was one of the 33 miners in Chile who were trapped 700 metres underground for 69 days. In an interview with the BBC, it's pretty obvious he went through a difficult period and running 8 kms per day was one of the ways that helped him deal with it.

Part of the interview states that he has been invited to run in the New York city Marathon in November. Wouldn't that be some change......from running around caverns on his own trapped 700 metres underground to a month later running in one of the world's largest Marathons with approx 37,000 runners with another 2 million people looking on!

If you are interested in the interview, you can read about it on the BBC website.