Cavan man completes overnight Ultra Marathon
Róisín McManus
Cavan Town athlete Jake Condon completed an epic 103km race, running through the night to come an incredible 20th out of a field of 120 competitors.
Remarkably the Kerry Way Ultra Nite, which took place September 4-5 was only Jake's second ultra marathon.
The 25 year old, currently in the fourth year of a degree in Sport and Exercise Science in South East Technological University (SETU) Carlow, has been running competitively now for the past two years.
His ultra marathon debut came at the notorious Bluestack Way Ultra 50k in Donegal just five weeks prior.
The Swellan Lower man began his 103km Kerry journey along mountainous terrain, with an elevation of almost 2,800 metres, at 9pm on the Friday night and ran for more than 15 hours overnight into Saturday morning.
His Garmin smart watch recorded only three minutes of stopped time throughout.
Except for the final three hours, Jake completed the majority of the route in “pretty much pitch black” with only a headtorch to guide the way.
“That time in the dark fairly flew by in a way,” Jake tells the Celt.
“Not being able to see anything around you and having just the torch was a pretty cool experience.”
Throughout, Jake consumed almost 5,000 calories, and carried two 500ml flasks for hydration, replaced at each of eight stations along the route, where his dad James was on hand to make the changes and offer support.
He had been training for 16 weeks in the lead up, spending between eight to 10 hours each week running, and practised going up and down hills on Fleming’s Folly outside Ballinagh.
For Jake, running is “really good” for his headspace.
“You go out there, you clear the mind, it puts everything in perspective,” he says, adding that he likes to take opportunities as they come and see how he improves each time.
“I kind of treat myself as a project.”
Before he took up running, Jake was “big into” powerlifting, weighing 100kg. Having grown up playing with Cavan Rugby Club for 10 years, he took up the sport during the pandemic when everything closed down.
He built a home gym but it wasn’t until he went to college in Carlow, where they had proper facilities, that he was able to compete. He came third in his final university competition in 2024.
After a few years of powerlifting, Jake decided he wanted a new challenge.
“I didn’t really enjoy being stationary, even though I was able to move weight, I wasn’t able to move myself too well,” Jake says.
He had intended to get into cycling but his bike was “a bit worse for wear,” so he took up running. As a lover of nature, he knew he wanted to do mountain running.
“The marathons weren’t really for me on the roads,” he admits.
It seems he is taking ultra marathon running in his stride.