Last One Standing, Castleward

A short documentary about an annual marathon in Northern Ireland, directed by Joseph Conlan.

This physically and mentally demanding devent takes place annually in mid-February in Castle Ward, Northern Ireland and it involves a large group of participants who run a 4.2 mile loop in the countryside. The rules are to complete the loop in one hour, before beginning the next one on the hour, every hour, for as long as they can. There is no finish line and the event starts at noon and it carries on until there is only one man and one woman remaining. The marathon is organised by Atlas Running, a company that manages running events.

Through interviews and footage of the marathon itself, this documentary introduces the viewer to this exciting event that pushes the participants to their limits. There is footage of people running in the woods and catching their breath before starting again. The film also presents several people who are involved in this activity, along with their impressive achievements, including Adrian Daye, the co-Race Organiser, spectator Kevin Kearns and some of the athletes including Peter Cromie, Jill McCann, Eoin Keith and Claire Bannwarth.

The film focuses primarily on exploring how challenging this event is, what the participants have to go through and it is quite entriguing. Still though, it would have been interesting to know how Last One Standing began, who thought of it and how it is all organised leading to the day of the marathon.

This approximately eight-minute-long documentary investigates an activity that is more about mental strength than about physical strength and it acknowledges that the main reason that people take part is to challenge themselves and achieve their personal goals.

An intriguing and informative short documentary about a running event that requires a great deal of determination and endurance. People who watch this will most likely be impressed by the athletes who take part in this activity and might find themselves thinking that they would like to do something similar themselves.