An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir April 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | O n the 11th January 2020, we, Pte's Gavin Dillon, Alex Smyth and Thomas Magner set out to complete a marathon over the Swiss Alps in full Battle DPM, an event which consisted of a series of climbs over a 26km route with a height of 2653m, up and over the well- known mountain in Switzerland. In partnership with Samaritans Ireland, together we had a structured funding system which drew a lot of attention through- out the country and from that we were able to donate a total of €4,760.00 to their charity on completion of the event. Having trained together in Recruit/2-3* training beginning in September 2018, Gavin of Abbeyfeale Co. Limerick, Alex of Borrisoleigh Co. Tipperary and Thomas of Cahir Co. Tipperary, took on advice of our then NCO Training Instructors to maintain and even strengthen the levels of physical fitness that we devel- oped over the 26 weeks of robust training and did our utmost to stick by those words. On completion of training in April 2019 myself, Alex and Thomas along with Pte Travis Fahy already pinned our sight on what is currently labelled 'The steepest race in the World': the Red Bull 400 Hill Championships, which involves sprinting 400m up a 35-degree inclined ski slope with an altitude of 882m. We set out training immediately in April and went onto compete in this event in mid-June 2019 which took place in Einsiedeln, Switzerland and took a podium place in 3rd and securing the Bronze medals in the Team Relay event. From this experience we were eager on the next event to get training for, and our focus quickly became what is the most recent event in the Swiss Alps marathon in mid- January 2020. Our 6 months preparation from July (1 month post Red Bull 400 event) consisted of long mileage running on different types of terrain, strength training in the 12 Bat- talion Gym facilities and also Altitude training which took place in the Delta Altitude chamber located in Ballysimon. The combination of those training sessions prepared us as well as possible for the event, which we all agree was the most difficult sporting experience to date in our careers. Having paced ourselves early on, it quickly became noticeable how short of breath we became as we climbed higher up the course as oxygen-levels reduced and on different occasions we individually encountered experi- ences of dizziness and the odd nosebleed, but having been prepared for these possibilities pre-race and using the right mental approaches to these scenarios, we tackled each of them as they came our way. We completed the race at just over the 3-hour mark, which was a rough estimated time that we had been looking to cross the line in, and the experience overall was worth every bit of hardship endured during our time competing in the event. Having been the only competitors in DPM in the event, the level of respect and encourage- ment from both supporters and competitors along the route gave a massive sense of pride in representing the Irish Defence Forces on an international scale that cannot be described, and will most definitely not be forgotten for a long time.

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