A Wicklow runner has died following a tragic incident while jogging in Spain last week, his wife has confirmed.
Thomas Bubendorfer was very well known in Irish running circles, and lived in Bray with his wife Niamh and their four children. Mr Bubendorfer worked as a computer programmer and in his spare time ran his own blog site, called 'Rubbishrunner'.
The death of the Austrian-born athlete was confirmed in a social media post on Sunday, as his wife Niamh wrote: "I don't usually post personal stuff on here but last Tuesday my life was forever changed. My darling husband Thomas Bubendorfer was killed hit by a car while out for a run in Madrid.
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"We were married 25 years with 4 children and still so much in love. There are no words."
In another post on Mr. Bubendorfer’s Twitter account, Ms. Swan said the family is “absolutely devastated and utterly bereft without him.” In his most recent blog post, from August 19, Bubendorfer said he was in Crete over the summer with his family.
"We jetted off to Crete for our first family holiday in 3 years, the same place Niamh and me had been to for our first anniversary, many, many years ago,” he wrote.
He also filled readers in on his recovery from a heel injury as well as his latest training programme as he prepared for an upcoming marathon. "Back on home soil I re-started my marathon training but on a slightly reduced mileage.
"The 18-mile long run last week was only 15, the midweek runs of 12 and 11 miles were cut down to 10 and 9+, and they definitely all felt long enough, alright,” he added.
“So I will keep an eye on things. The schedule would have me do 20 miles this Sunday but that's definitely not going to happen. I hope my endurance will eventually catch up because I do need a few long runs before race day, but so far I'll try and err on the side of caution for once.
Tributes have been pouring in on social media, and a fellow running blogger, under the name ‘Cork Running’ paid tribute by writing: “I was shocked to hear this morning about the recent passing of Thomas Bubendorfer after an accident in Spain.
“Thomas will be known to many runners from his Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner blog in which he outlined a diary of his activities as a runner. Starting on a journey to break three hours for the marathon, he found his real calling as an ultra endurance runner and he represented his native Austria several times.
“For many years, Thomas lived near Caragh Lake in Co Kerry and took part in many of the races in Cork and Kerry and was a very active pacer for many marathons including Cork and Dublin. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam."
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