Eagle AC Member Profile:
Name: Grellan McGrath
Member of Eagle AC since: 2007
How long have you been running what made you take it up: I started on 8th January 2006 to train for a once in a lifetime marathon and kept going. Favourite thing about running: The head space. Favourite race distance to run: Anything that was long enough to require no speedwork and a picnic and short enough that I could tell my wife “see you tomorrow” – typically between 6 and 16 hours. Now I have more sense.
What is your main goal for this year: To get to the end of the year still running. Your best race/most memorable racing moment to date: If I had to pick one it would be the Connemara 100 in 2013 – Great company (clubmates Denis and John), scenery (Connemara has it all) and food (free buffet all day). I remember talking to Mick Rice (previous winner) over a coffee and tea brack in Roundwood at mile 82 and he saying how close the race was this year with only three miles separating the top 3. Tell us something most people might not know about you: I share the same Great Great Grandfather as Gerard Hartmann, physio to the elites. Our Great Grandfathers (brothers) emigrated to the west of Ireland from the Black Forrest region of Germany in the early 1900’s, were interred during the Great War and settled in Limerick and Galway.
Biggest heroes (sporting or non-sporting): Nelson Mandela – that guy knew endurance. One bit of advice you would give to someone thinking of taking up running: Pace yourself 3 things you would take with you onto a desert island: A copy of Lonely Planets Guide to Desert Islands, the weekly club emails so that I could keep up the training and a scratch card – knowing my luck.
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