Thornton Wins Ultra Tough Atacama Marathon

Gary Thornton of Galway City Harriers has won the Volcano Marathon in Chile’s Atacama Desert  – a race at 4,500m  that included strong headwinds at the start and  temperatures soaring towards 40 degrees on a very hilly route with a lot of sand.  Several competitors required oxygen on finishing the event and there was one withdrawal due to dehydration.
Thornton, winner of the North Pole Marathon, finished the standard 42.2 km marathon distance in times of 4 hrs 10 mins 13 secs – almost  two hours slower than his regular road marathon time.  Ian Egan  finished in 6 hrs 6 mins 15 secs. See www.volcanomarathon.com
Results – Men (17 finishers): 1 Gary Thornton (IRL) 4.10.13, 2 Enzo Ferrari (CHL) 4.36.53 , 3 Christoph Zitzmann (GER) 5.54.14, 4 Frank Fuessl (GER) 5.59.58 5 Ian Egan (IRL) 6.06.15, 6 Jorg Lindemann (GER) 6.37.05. Women (4): 1 Anne-Marie Flammersfeld (GER) 4.37.58 (3rd overall), 2 Carla Albornoz Lopez (CHL) 5.24.40, 3 Audrey McIntosh (GBR) 7.16.29, 4 Judy Scrine (GBR) 8.18.32

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