Crazy pair ran for two days

Ultra-distance running is the latest sport in the Cayman Islands and two intrepid athletes set the benchmark high with an incredible run that lasted more than 30 hours over the weekend.  

All the months of preparation paid off. James Murray and Gerry Martinez arrived separately to Camana Bay where dozens of fans and supporters cheered them to the finishing line at the end of their 100-mile endurance run around Grand Cayman. 

The pair set off at the Cayman Islands Diabetes Association 5k (three-mile) fun run at 7am Saturday and then kept on running for another 97 miles and more than another 30 more hours. 

The route took them through all the districts of Grand Cayman. Followers tracked their progress through regular BBM and Facebook updates and many joined them for a few miles of their run, which was dubbed A Crazy Idea. They were raising money for the Cayman Islands Diabetes Association. 

Murray, a Canadian accountant who lives in Cayman, arrived across the finish line first and admitted the last 20 miles were extremely tough. He said that around mile 80, he got disheartened “because you know you have 20 miles to go, you know you’re going at a slow pace, you’re moving at about three miles an hour and I was thinking ‘I’ve got six more hours of this, it’ll take me into the afternoon and I’ll have to deal with sun and heat again’ and you get a little bit demoralised,” he said. 

But continuous support from friends and fellow runners kept him and Martinez on track and both men were surrounded by other runners as they ran into view of the finish line outside Books & Books on Sunday afternoon. 

Murray, 38, said the hard run made him very emotional and he was “overwhelmed” by all the support he found in the lead up to the run, during it and afterwards. 

They ran together for much of the course, but split up about 70 miles into it as Murray was moving faster than Martinez, who said he struggled with the heat and humidity throughout the entire run. 

Martinez, 25, who arrived from the United States for the run, is more accustomed to running in the cooler air of the Grand Tetons mountain, part of the Rocky Mountains range. 

When he crossed the finish line and took a seat waiting for him beside the road, Martinez said: “The heat got to me. I wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. I come from San Antonio (in Texas) so I thought the heat wouldn’t be a problem, but I’ve been spending all my time in the Tetons. I got out there and it was hot, so I just had to take it easy.” 

Throughout the run, both were kept company by supporters from the Wednesday Night Running Club and other runners who ran along with them. Murray said the only point there was no other runners supporting them was through Barkers in West Bay.  

Supporters, who included Murray’s girlfriend Lauren Christie, travelled in support vehicles and got out and ran along with them when they felt like they were flagging. 

“People would alternate run with Gerry or run with me, or they’d sit in the car. Gerry and I ran a lot of support people into the ground, but they all stepped up,” said Murray at the end as he soaked his raw red feet in a cooler of ice and water. 

Murray said he had walked the last several miles, breaking into a run to hit the finish line, his “first run in hours”, but Martinez had continued to run throughout the route, including the last several miles from the Smith Road cricket pitch in George Town, along the Esterley Tibbetts Highway to Camana Bay. 

“I walked and ran the whole way,” he said. “In these races, you always go through a bad period and then if you wait it out, typically you’ll recover. The sad thing is I was just waiting and waiting to recover and it never happened until the very end when I was able to push real hard. I couldn’t have done it without everyone else who supported us.” 

Murray congratulated his fellow runner, describing his run, through all the challenges of the heat, as heroic. 

Martinez, who weighed 340 pounds three years ago, has since lost 180 pounds by running and beginning a vegan diet. His aunt died of complications from diabetes three years ago and his father this year underwent a leg amputation as a result of diabetes.  

Murray launched A Crazy Idea to raise money for the Cayman Islands Diabetes Association and also to inspire people to push beyond their limits. He has encouraged many people to run the half-marathon for the first time as part of the Cayman Islands Intertrust Marathon on Sunday, 4 December, and has been helping them train, publishing a training schedule and tips in the Caymanian Compass every week and accompanying them in training with the Wednesday Night Running Club. 

The pair were supposed to originally be joined by Lisa Smith-Batchen, an ultra-marathon runner from the US, but she was unable to join them. She arrives on Island Wednesday and will run the marathon. 

Mr. Murray and Mr. Martinez were raising money for the Cayman Islands Diabetes Association.