Cork man taking part in gruelling 250km ultramarathon in Sahara Desert

Cork man Alan Kearney is currently taking part in the gruelling Marathon des Sables, a 250km race across the Sahara desert. He tells TIMOTHY O’MAHONY what drives him

Cork man Alan Kearney is currently competing in one of the most famous and historic races in the world, the Marathon des Sables, which takes place across the Sahara Desert in North Africa.

Alan, originally from Farranree, who has been living in Melbourne, Australia, for the last 15 years, has become an integral part of his community there.

He is taking up this challenge in of two worthy causes close to his heart, Tour De Cure, Australia, and One Ball, a non-profit football academy providing opportunities for disadvantaged children Down Under with access to coaching, mentoring and connection.

Alan is taking on the Marathon des Sables challenge as part of the Irish Ironmind team, with a group of 17 people working together to conquer this enormous challenge - a seven-day, 257km ultramarathon, which is about the distance of six regular marathons, and runs from April 4-14.

I was able to catch up with Alan and got some insight into his preparation, training, hopes and fears for this epic journey.

How did the idea for competing in the Marathon des Sables come about?

So, how I came across the race was basically through a guy called Damian Browne. He’s a former Irish rugby player who completed a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean about two years ago.

He was the only person, and still is, that rowed across the Atlantic from New York to Galway on his own, and that made headlines here in Ireland and it made headlines over in Australia as well.

When that popped up on my radar I was extremely interested in him and how he put himself through something like that, from obviously the physical side of it, but mentally, how he was able to control his emotions in such a challenging environment, and that was fascinating to me.

So, when Damian put something up online last year about putting the team together to tackle this event, I wanted in.

To be able to learn from him about his mental methodologies around being able to control your emotions in the most extreme environments - that’s how it came about really, from following him, and then my own desire to kind of do something at the end of my football playing career.

I retired last year in Melbourne, and I was looking to throw myself into a new challenge this year.

Tell us about your training for the gruelling Marathon des Sables event

The training has been intense as you could imagine.

It’s been a programme that I followed for the last six months, so there’s two components to it really, there’s the physical side of it and then there’s the mental side.

Damian has got a company called the Ironmind Institute and they’ve been able to tap into his mental preparation to get ready for an event like this.

We’ve followed his methodologies, and I’ve tried to implement them into my training.

The training programme itself consisted of six cycles and it would go for nine days straight, training and two days off, and within those nine days you have two conditioning sessions which all focus on the lower body, trying to get your calves and your legs ready to take on the sand dunes.

A lot of core work, and then I had running sessions which included interval sessions or speed sessions, which was tough.

Then we had rucking sessions, where we would hike hills and mountains with a weight vest to replicate the conditions of the race itself.

In the race, you must carry all your gear for the entire week on your back and essentially be self-sufficient.

I was spending 20 to 30 hours training, so it was almost like a full-time job on the side of my own job.

What are you most excited about?

There were a few things that I was looking forward to and that I’m excited about. The first thing was pushing myself and seeing what I’m really made of.

It’s going to be extremely challenging and daunting, but I’m hoping that I’m well equipped and well prepared off the back of the training.

I want to build on my self-belief really in of what I can push through

I’m excited about taking the challenge head on and coming out the other side of it, and learning more about myself and what I’m capable of.

Then there is the camaraderie that I’m about to build with people that I’m about to go on this journey with. I’m part of a team to 17 of us doing it, we’ve been training here for six months most of the team is based in Ireland and there’s only two of us in Australia.

To share this experience with them, when you’re in the Sahara, it’s off the grid, right? So we’re going to be stripped back and you’re going to be living a very basic life and there will be a lot of downtime, no internet, no nothing, and you’ll be sitting down and, you know, connecting with people

The finish line is a long, long, long way away from where I’m currently at talking to you, I’m sitting in the front room now in my parents’ house in Farranree after dinner and just the next week I’ll be at stage three of the race.

This is such a daunting challenge, what are you most afraid of?

I would say mental collapse is probably a deep one for me, and kind of ties into one of the main reasons why I’m doing it.

I started my career as a professional footballer with Everton in the Premier League and I’ve analysed down to the nth degree down through the years as to why it didn’t quite work out as I might have hoped, and I always land on the mental side of the game.

When I wasn’t able to control myself emotionally and in high-pressure situations in games, and that’s obviously impacted my ability to perform.

So, this is something that I’m taking on because I do believe that there’s an elite side of my mentality and there always has been inside of me, because I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I was with my football without that.

I was the fittest player at that club for two years, which is something to look back on and be proud of, so that elite mindset is there and I want it to show up when I’m out there.

If it doesn’t, it would be tough to take, so I’m trying to kind of go out there and take on old ghosts really, and hope that the elite side of me turns up and the tough side of me turns up.

Has your preparation changed your perspective, and do you feel that after the race, your perspective on life will be different?

I would definitely say yes, and this is pre- event so all in relation to my training, it’s taught me far far more than the physical side of things.

I’ve definitely found growth in myself, just developed a deeper self-awareness of my thoughts and emotions.

I’ve become more in tune with those, especially when I’m under pressure or under fatigue, and, you know, feeling wrecked during my training.

So I definitely felt the shift and learned to stay fully present and in the moment, and when I’m in the moment and present I get more out of myself.

I’ve taken that away and that’s translated into everyday life really, into my job, my football coaching, and it’s helped me to become more present within meetings and relationships, I guess even outside of work with my partner and friends.

I’ve become more grounded in how I guess I show up at work.

I would say the most powerful thing that I’ve realised is that there’s always more within me, and not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, so the experience has helped me to break past my perceived limits.

Hopefully, I can inspire people as well, the people around me, like I’m talking about my friends and my niece and nephew.

I’m hoping that they can look back on this when they get older and think it’s pretty cool, you know, because ‘our uncle’ challenged himself and showed us we can do anything.

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