Artist and ultra-runner Dr. Tim Brennan has transformed endurance running into a long-form performance art project he calls Roman Runner, a multi-decade endeavour to physically trace the edges of the Roman Empire through a series of ultra-marathon “frontier runs.”

The project began in Britain, where Brennan completed solo runs along the two major Roman frontiers. In 2012, he ran the 50-mile length of the Antonine Wall from the west to the east coast of Scotland in just eleven hours despite severe weather. Shortly afterwards, he followed the route of Hadrian’s Wall, covering the 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead Quays in fifteen hours. With both British frontiers completed, Brennan shifted to the continental phase of his undertaking. This next chapter – Roman Runner: Limes Germanicus I – took place in the Netherlands and marked his first substantial run across Continental Europe.

Setting out at 3 a.m. on Saturday, August 24, he departed from Katwijk-Aan-Zee on the edge of the North Sea and followed the line of the ancient Roman Lower Germanic Limes, the northwesternmost boundary of the Empire. Equipped with only a head torch, isotonic drinks, and minimal food, he ran eastward through historically significant Dutch cities including Leiden, Utrecht, and Arnhem, eventually reaching Herwen-De-Bijland near the German border. By the end of the journey he had covered more than ninety miles in nineteen hours, completing his longest single frontier run to date.

Reflecting on the project, Brennan explains: “I have developed the runs as part of my ongoing art practice, taking a journey on the edges of the Roman Empire in ultra-marathon stages… This is the next stage and a progression of how far I can take my art.”

_
Information available at Sunderland Repository and PressReader (The Journal).