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EchoLive.ie, 5 Feb
Cobh native Eoin Keith has been nominated in two categories for the
prestigious 2023 Outsider Awards
‘Useless’ Cork schoolboy Keith now one of Ireland's top endurance
athletes
Eoin Keith crossing the finish line when he won a 170k ultra marathon
In Oman in 2019. Picture: Lloyd Images/Mark Lloyd.
Amy Campbell
A Cork man who describes himself as being “useless” at sports in school
has explained how he became one of the top endurance athletes in the
country.
Eoin Keith from Cobh has been nominated for both the ‘Most Inspiring
Person of the Year’ and the ‘Audience Choice Award’ in the Outsider
Awards 2023, which celebrate the achievements, milestones and
contributions that have taken place in the Irish outdoor community over
the past year.
Eoin explained to The Echo: “I wasn’t any good at any sports in school.
Most school sports are sprinty type things, and I had no speed at all
so I was pretty much useless at everything," said Eoin.
“In college, I had some friends involved in the mountaineering club, so
they dragged me out, and I absolutely loved it - I’d have a geeky
background, and it was such a different world out there in the
mountains," he added.
Marathons
Some of his other friends took part in competitive events like mountain
marathons, which he described as being like large-scale orienteering,
running on mountains for multiple days and camping in between.
“That opened up my inner competitive nature, and when some of my
mountain marathon friends took part in the Dublin marathon in 1998 I
said, like I usually do ‘sure I’ll give it a try.’ I discovered that I
actually was a good distance runner, I did a sub three hour marathon on
my first go, which is pretty good.
“From then I just kept pushing it out, trying loner runs, and every
time I did, I got more competitive, so it kind of evolved, and the
longer and more arduous the event, the better I seemed to do.”
Travel
Eoin described taking part in increasingly interesting races, and
getting to travel around the world as he took part in three or four day
races as well as adventure expeditions, which are multi-sport events
usually involving tracking, kayaking and mountain biking.
Now, he says: “I’m in my mid-fifties and still doing it and enjoying
it, I’m not as competitive but still able to take part at a reasonably
high level, so the endurance is still going.”
Eoin explained that being somewhat of a late bloomer with regards to
sport is common enough in the sort of events he participates in.
"What I’ve noticed is people who are good at team sports in school get
to their thirties and just disappear sometimes. Whereas people who
weren’t very good get to their 20s, 30s, even 40s and discover that
they’re good at these things then throw themselves into it with gusto.
“The amount of people I meet who were far from good at traditional
sports is huge, like one of the world’s best flat ultra runners started
because he was a drinker and a smoker who wanted to improve his health,
and now he’s breaking world records.”
Eoin has already signed up for a few long distance races in 2024,
including the PTL, a 5 or 6 day course around the mountains of France,
Italy and Switzerland, as well as a coast to coast race in England.
“I’ll also sign up for a few more, I do four or five, maybe six of
these races a year – they’re fun things to do and train for, and a
great way to see the world.”
Nominated
Eoin added that he had been nominated for Outsider Awards every year,
saying: “I’m surprised to be nominated this year – when you look at all
the others and read through what they’ve done, every year the range is
just phenomenal.”
“One thing I look forward to about these awards is to meet these people
doing these amazing things, like the young girl who swam across the
Northern Channel - I can barely swim a yard!
“There’s always someone madder than you, and its great to meet these
people, I feel sorry for the people having to choose between so many
different types of brilliance – it’s just great to be nominated,” he
concluded.
You can vote for Eoin in the Audience Choice category here:
https://outsider.ie/outsider-awards/audience-choice-award-2023/
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