In 1912 Annascaul native, Tom Crean completed a 35-mile trek through the Antarctic to get help for his colleagues on an ill-fated trip to reach the South Pole.

Over a century later a young man from the same Kerry parish took on his own long-distance walk.

Jason Hickson was seeking to enter the Guinness book of World Records for the farthest farmer’s walk carrying 100lbs for 24 hours.

His choice of venue – the race track in Castleisland – was more comfortable than the icy conditions Crean trudged through in his 18-hour trek.

The young dairy farmer completed 125 laps in achieving the record. In doing so he walked 50.025km or 31 miles.

So why did the dairy farmer end up taking on such a task of endurance? Well his brother Eamonn, a journalist with Radio Kerry is partly to blame.

He set the family off with the first of 14 records when he reversed a tractor and trailer the 17km from Dingle to Annascaul.

The siblings have been joined by their sister, Sandra. She was bitten by the record bug and holds the female record for the fastest mile ran wearing a set of hand cuffs.

Jason was determined to get in the record books and initially training consisted of walking up and down the cow house carrying kettlebells.

This wouldn’t suffice. A pair of 22.5kg weights, resembling fire extinguishers were made.

More thought was required on how he would get through the mammoth task.

“It’s only a thing you’re ever going to do once. The first 12 or 16 hours, I figured I’d be OK and I knew 20 to 24 hours wasn’t going to be a problem because I’d have got so close; I’d be so driven I’d be able to keep going, but I was concerned about the time from 16 to 20 hours.”

To overcome this challenge, Jason devised a plan that would see him delay training until he was suitably fatigued.

There were Sundays where the cows were milked in the morning, followed by a soccer match, football in the afternoon, evening milking and then have a big feed before heading down the road to Inch beach for a training session.

The reasoning why, he says:

“I was making myself drowsy purposefully so I was fatigued to start with. I would do a few hours walking in the soft sand while carrying the weights.”

Moving from the beach to the track saw plans change.

“I had this idea at the start that I would walk 100m, stop and go again.

“After going out to the track I realised, it was better to take shorter breaks and go shorter distances each time, so every 30 to 40 yards I’d drop them for seven or eight seconds.”

Jason commenced the walk at 10am. Temperatures soared in the afternoon and as predicted, hour 16 onwards was tough.

“The supporters were great. People who were training with me took turns carrying kettlebells in the lanes alongside as moral support.”

His father Paddy, turned up to support an hour before the end.

“He didn’t come up to me at all. It was the first time that I’d say he was a bit nervous. He was walking around looking over ditches but he wouldn’t look at me at all.

“There’d always be a thing at home that our generation wouldn’t be as tough as his.

“I used that as motivation. The last 10 laps were something else, I got so tired. I was emotional for the last 225 yards. When I finished I hugged dad, I hadn’t done that since I was a child.”

When asked if he was tempted to do an extra lap, a resounding “No” is the response.

Catalyst for change

But why take on these records? Eamonn describes the background. A local tragedy was the catalyst for change in his outlook on life.

In December 2011, a teammate, Brendan ‘Bawnie’ O’Driscoll suffered a brain haemorrhage during a football match and passed away.

The constant enquiries of the event started to weigh on Eamonn and he went off working in New Zealand for a few months.

“The idea of setting a world record for the longest tractor and trailer reverse came to me when I was backing a squash harvester down a long roadway on a farm in 2012.”

While in New Zealand, Eamonn began writing a novel.

“I was into writing but you wouldn’t dare tell anyone. I was in or around the Kerry senior football squad at the time so it was football, football, football.

“I might have written a novel, but I wouldn’t have told anybody. Now I’ve written three.

“You’d nearly be embarrassed to say you’re writing a novel but then you realise your friend is in a grave so you wonder what are you worried about.

“One of the most important things is not being afraid to fail.”

As the Hicksons admit, anyone could have done those records, but the fear of what other people think holds many back from doing what is perceived as different.

It would make one wonder the potential that exists in parishes throughout the country.