Stop robbing @KinvarasPassionâs quips
The fella who made Unbreakable is putting all his old films up for free during the lockdown
Hereâs one he made with Dean Kanzares. Not as good as Unbreakable.
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-paul-tierney-fell-in-love-with-fell-running-tgbkzz5bh
HURLING
How Paul Tierney fell in love with fell running
Cork player gave hurling up for something he enjoyed more, which led to setting a remarkable record
Paul Tierney has become obsessed with ultra-running
Denis Walsh
Sunday April 26 2020, 12.01am BST, The Sunday Times
Before Christmas the mesmerising film of what Paul Tierney did last summer was shown in Cork, for one night only. You can try to tell people what itâs like to scale 214 peaks in a little over six days, pushing your agonised body and besieged mind through days and nights that were separated by just a tissue of sleep; but words will fail: they must see it in your face.
In the audience were friends that Tierney had hurled with; among them was Wayne Sherlock, the former Cork captain and All Star. In Tierneyâs childhood Sherlock was one of his heroes but by the time Cork won the 2004 All-Ireland they shared a dressing room. Tierney was a young sub about whom no firm conclusions had been reached; a future with Cork was still open. Before long, though, he left all that behind.
Tierney didnât need other people to understand the choices he had made in life but, that night in Cork, it felt like the film was answering questions that had been left hanging. âI almost wanted to show it to people I looked up to and say, âLook, I didnât leave hurling because I didnât like hurling. I just found something else that I was mad about.â You know that a guy like Wayne Sherlock would appreciate something like that.â
Halfway through the film Tierney is interviewed in the early morning darkness in the camper van that had followed him around the Lake District carrying supplies and a tiny ration of comfort. His head is buried in the hood of his zipped up jacket, his beard is shaggy and heâs hunched forward, staring at the floor, smothered in tiredness.
Eventually he looks at the camera: âItâs not fun any more, Dave,â he says. The filmmaker Dave McFarlane leaves the line sit in silence for about 20 seconds and then probes for a little more, like a priest in the confessional. âDo you feel broken?â he asks quietly. âYeah,â says Tierney, âjust a bit.â
âMy face was swollen,â Tierney said when reminded of the exchange. âI couldnât open my eyes hardly. My legs were absolutely battered. I knew I had two and a half days to go and I just thought, âJesus!ââ
What Tierney achieved had been attempted by just a handful of people because the craziness of it has an exclusive quality. The Wainwrights is a list of 214 peaks in the Lake District, chosen by Alfred Wainwright more than 50 years ago and illustrated in seven volumes of books that have sold more than two million copies.
Each peak except one rises to more than 1,000 feet and for fanatical long-distance walkers and mountain runners reaching the top of all Wainwrightâs peaks became the target of a lifetime. Then, in 1985, Alan Heaton spent nearly ten days doing it in one continuous round; picking up the challenge the following summer the great fell runner Josh Naylor did it in seven days, establishing a record that stood for 38 years.
When Steve Birkinshaw bettered Naylorâs time in 2104 Tierney had returned to Cork, having spent a year living in the Lake District. âI just remember being inspired by it and thinking he was a bit of a dude for doing it but also thinking, âThereâs no f*****g way I could even contemplate doing something like that.ââ
Tierney won the 2004 All-Ireland with Cork
BRENDAN MORAN
Tierney had become immersed in ultra-running. Nine years ago he ran in the annual 100-mile race around the Lake District for the first time; four years later he won it. By then Tierney was back living in the area with his partner Sarah McCormack, the Irish international mountain runner. They started a business providing coaching support to long-distance runners, most of it online, and they set up home in a shepherdâs hut in Windermere.
âA lot of people like me move here because they want to be out in the hills. They take a hit on their career because they want a balance in their life.â
Tierney started to explore the limits of his endurance. What he discovered was that all the barriers and all the glorious possibilities were in his mind. âIâve thought a lot about this side of things. Iâve gone back and thought about how I was set up mentally when I was hurling. It was one of my biggest weaknesses. If I did something wrong in the first couple of minutes that used to just eat away at me. My mind would be thinking about not missing the ball. I was worrying about messing up.â
In ultra-running over extreme distances you manage your body by controlling your thoughts. The temptation to give up preys on even the strongest runners. It is a binary equation: each temptation is make-or-break. âIt doesnât matter if youâre the fittest person in the world if you canât overcome the feeling of wanting to stop, if you canât manage that feeling or trick your mindâŚâ
Tierney kept pushing. In 2017 and 2018 he competed in the Tor des Geants, a 200-mile race at the foot of the Alps in northern Italy. Every starter has a week to complete the course and both years Tierney did it in just less than 100 hours â four days and a bit. In that time he slept âfor maybe four hoursâ. When Tierney reached the finish line in the second year, though, he didnât feel that he had bottomed out.
By then it was on his mind to attempt the Wainwrights and target Birkinshawâs record. In the fell running community there is a long tradition of helping other runners and Birkinshaw honoured that giving spirit. Tierney needed to learn everything he could about Birkinshawâs route and then find ways to shave time.
Tierney found a sponsor and built a support team of about 60 volunteers, many of whom would run alongside him for one of the 14 legs, in pods of three or four. What he didnât need was a cause.
In April, two months before his attempt on the Wainwrights, Tierneyâs friend, Chris Stirling, lost his life. When Tierney first landed in the Lake District in 2013 he lived for a year with Stirling and over the years they had worked together and trained together. His friend, though, struggled with depression and addiction.
âThere were demons there that he was still trying to suppress. He fell off the wagon again and started to drink. There was a period of five or six weeks before he passed away when there was a small group of us basically looking after him. The plan was never to raise money for a mental health charity [over ÂŁ36,000 for Mind] because Chris was going to be around, he was going to be helping.â
The circuit was 328 miles, much of it on rough terrain; added together, the climbs came to more than 36,000 metres. The plan for sleep was two hours out of every 24. Long before the end he could scarcely close his eyes with the throbbing pain in his knees. Once the battle commenced it was relentless. âAt the end of the first leg, after five hours, I was tired. But because you know it is part of a much bigger thing you donât experience the tiredness in the same way.
âYouâre constantly tricking yourself, looking for ways not to focus on how tired you are. Until you get to a point when you canât ignore it any more. On Tuesday morning [day five] I felt as bad as Iâve ever felt. That was probably the worst point. But when I got going I was with a new group of people, I was with a couple of good friends and I picked it up again.â
On one of the final descents to the finishing line at Keswick his friend Jim Tyson handed him Chrisâs running vest to wear. âI immediately started to well up and I was cursing him for making me cry. It was a fitting way to finish it off.â
The clock stopped at six days, six hours and five minutes. Nearly seven hours faster than Birkinshawâs time. Astonishing.
âIâve never been terribly talented at any sport Iâve done,â he says, âbut Iâve always been a trier. I was determined. I look back on playing hurling with Cork. People talk about not having regrets. If you donât have regrets you obviously havenât really examined what youâve done in your life. Why would you not have regrets? Youâve hardly done everything perfectly. I definitely have regrets about hurling. If I had been better at managing the mental side I might have done a bit better.
âIâd love to have played in an All-Ireland final, not just sat on my backside and watched other people doing it. I was obviously happy that Cork won but I felt like a fraud. I was getting a medal for doing nothing. I never felt I deserved it.â
He needed something else. He looked until he found it.
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Nice one. The film is a good watch
Tierney and his partner Sarah McCormack are doing an online training/challenge thing over the next week or two through IMRA
Tenner to sign up. Be useful for those who run regularly cc @backinatracksuit
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Watched it tonight
Unreal stuff. Going from snow to really hot temperature must do some damage to the body.
I posted this article down to the father the other day. He wouldnât have known of the Wainwrights or anything but I thought it would be a piece heâd enjoy, especially as Tierney was a Garda in Limerick.
Turns out he knows Tierneyâs father (retired Garda himself), and both Paulâs parents are proud North Tipp people (Shannon Rovers through and through).
I explained to him that he can watch the film on YouTube so he said heâd give that a watch. Iâd say between him and the mother heâll be able to watch it on the computer. No point trying to explain to him how his smart TV works five years after he bought the thing
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This is fucking insane
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You listening on audible or reading it?
Listening, I like the narrator, and format with Goggins own inputs
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It is a great story in fairness. Dude is hardcore
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Iâm only a few hours into it (well 7), just after he finished running in Vegas but im not sure yet if itâs inspiring or frightening, has he got OCD? Some story though.
Thatâs insane. Couldnât see the attraction with it at all myself.
Me neither. Iâve a pal did 24 hours on a track , and another time did over and back on the Humber bridge for 24 hours.
Killian Jornet is attempting the world 24 hour record today
Dropped out after 10.5 hours with knee pain I think.
