Marathon milestone beckons for fit Leo

A NORTHSIDE man will celebrate a major milestone next week when he runs his 100th marathon.

Leo Lundy, from Marino, who will bidding to reach the century at Courtmacsherry, West Cork, on July 25, only took up running at the age of 39 to get a little fitter.

His initial goal was to run a marathon before he was 40 which he duly completed in April 2004 in Belfast. Over the next 10 years, Leo went on to run another 20 marathons in three continents and nine countries from Las Vegas in Nevada to the Gold Coast in Australia.

In 2012, he joined Crusaders Athletic Club in Irishtown and for the first time followed a set training programme. This led to his current best time of three hours and 33 minutes achieved in Limerick in 2013 at the age of 49.

Around the same time Leo joined the All Ireland Marathon Club which promotes marathon running across the island.

He started participating in events organised by the East of Ireland Marathon series based in North Dublin. Since its inception in 2013, it has organised over 50 official marathons predominantly in Clontarf and Howth.

In 2013, another 19 marathons followed for Leo in his quest to reach 50 before he was 50-years-old. That target was achieved at a small event in Craughwell, Galway. Dave Brady, a running legend with Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club, presented him with his commemorative medal.

As Leo set about trying to achieve his new target of 100 marathons, 2014 proved to be his most prolific year to date when he completed 38 events of the 26.2 mile distance, or longer, including the prestigious Quad Dipsea Ultra Marathon in San Francisco.

US running legends Dick and Rick Hoyt, from www.teamhoyt.com, will be attending the event in Courtmacsherry to present Leo with a special medal and runnng vest from the marathon club.

Aside from the large city marathons like London, New York and Berlin, Leo has participated in the Belfast marathon seven times and Dublin marathon eight times (his favourite big city event) and has been meticulous in recording his exploits and travels in his popular running blog http://blog.leolundy.com.

When he completes the century, Leo said he will continue to compete in marathons and intends to concentrate on new events with a penchant for mountainous trail races.