by Ava Cashmore and Cam Lucadou-Wells
Cranbourne East uItra-runner Byron Lester’s latest challenge was nearly a step too far.
The confident athlete prides himself on his big endurance engine and appetite for pain. And wanted a difficult challenge that would “strip me down raw”.
But he says he underestimated the peril of running a 42 kilometre marathon while inside an altitude chamber on 30 November.
Set at an altitude of up to 3500 metres – half the height of Mt Everest – the Frankston gym’s chamber made breathing like “sucking oxygen though a straw”.
Building on a year of training, Lester said he felt fine at the two-hour mark.
But from four hours, he suffered headaches, fatigue, disorientation and stomach.
He kept going for a staggering six-and-a-half hours, while his blood-oxygen levels were monitored in case they dipped below a dangerous 70 per cent.
“It was like the chamber attacked my brain and body.
“I didn’t know if I could keep going. To be honest I don’t know how I did it.
“I’ve never felt worse – I felt like I was in hell.”
Nearly a week later, he still hadn’t fully recovered his breath. It took a few days for the headaches to ease.
“I’ve ticked that box now, I’m glad I did it but I won’t be going back.
“It’s too dangerous to your health – I could have easily got brain damage or fluid on my lungs.
“I was on a knife’s edge.”
To his knowledge, no one in Australia had ever completed the feat.
What helped Lester complete the marathon was that he was raising funds for depression charity Beyond Blue’s 24/7 mental health support hotline.
Having struggled with depression himself, he says the cause is close to his heart.
For him, it was running that helped him get out of that depression “hole”.
“I had no energy, and there was just complete numbness, like nothing mattered,” he says of the illness.
“It’s not some magical force, it’s a medical condition”.
In combat of this condition, Lester began to use his ultra-running as a way to improve his mental health.
“I’ve been doing ultra-running for 10 years -and I’ve realised that I can use my capacity to endure long distances to give back.”
In support of Beyond Blue, Lester last year ran 144 kilometres in 24 hours at the Yu Yangs, followed by a 70-kilometre trek along the Surf Coast.
Every $48 raised provides a critical lifeline, connecting someone in crisis to a trained mental health professional.
To support Byron’s marathon at altitude, donations can be made directly to Beyond Blue or https://team.beyondblue.org.au/outandbackonthelarapintatrailforbeyondblue?fbclid=PAY2xjawGY0mhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABpoTOZN77YBgUR5hkUXm_S2CSFg9XjGMbtfMdRzQVZjE_Du78S_9PfMHs1Q_aem_2odo74V9u1Xri8zplrV0Bw
