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Displaying items by tag: Iditarod

Gavan Hennigan, a 42-year-old native of Galway who completed a solo row of the Atlantic in 2017, has become the first Irish person to not only complete but win a 1,000-mile foot race in Alaska.

This was achieved while experiencing gruelling weather conditions and extremely challenging terrain over 24 days.

Only approximately 50 athletes have completed the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational within the 30 day cut-off period over the 18 years the event has been run.

Gavan is no stranger to the accomplishment of extreme challenges, however, as he previously won the 350-Mile Iditarod Trail foot race and completed a 5,000km solo row of the Atlantic in the Takisker Whisky Challenge in early 2017.

He crossed the finish line amid heavy snowfall in Nome, Alaska in first place with a time of 24 days, 18 hours and nine minutes, completing what race organisers have called a “monumental achievement”.

Published in Coastal Rowing

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago