There’s a moment in every long run where things change. The pace starts to bite, the legs feel heavier, and the effort becomes something you can’t ignore. And in that moment, you’re left with a simple decision: keep going or ease off. ALTAR is a brand built for that moment.
Founded in Ireland by ultra-endurance athlete Conor O’Keeffe, ALTAR was created from a very practical problem—finding fuel that could support long training sessions without causing digestive issues or unnecessary complexity. After years of testing what worked in real conditions, ALTAR became a simple system built around endurance: steady energy, consistent intake and nutrition that stays out of the way when it matters most.
ALTAR comes directly from Conor O’Keeffe’s experience in ultra-endurance sport.
As an athlete spending long hours in training and racing, he became familiar with a common issue—fuelling strategies that looked good on paper but didn’t always hold up when sessions got long, intense, or unpredictable.
Rather than accept that compromise, he began developing his own approach. What started as personal experimentation eventually evolved into ALTAR: a nutrition system shaped entirely by lived experience in endurance sport. The result is a brand that feels less like a product idea and more like a solution built in real time, through real training.
ALTAR is designed for athletes who spend time in the long miles.
Running, cycling, training—sessions where energy needs to hold steady and nutrition shouldn’t become another thing to manage.
The focus is straightforward:
- sustained energy
- consistent performance
- simple fuelling
It’s a minimal approach, shaped by endurance sport rather than excess. ALTAR is typically used during longer training sessions or racing, when steady energy intake matters most. Products like Speed Dust are mixed with water and taken consistently throughout effort, rather than relying on large, occasional intakes.
The idea is not to create spikes in energy, but to support a more even output over time. It’s a system designed to reduce friction, not add structure for the sake of it.
In practice, that means:
- starting fuelling early in the session
- taking it steadily rather than sporadically
- keeping things simple when intensity rises
A lot of endurance nutrition leans into complexity—timing strategies, multiple inputs, layered products. ALTAR takes a more stripped-back view. It’s built around the idea that fuelling should fit into the session, not interrupt it. It’s a practical approach shaped by long hours in training rather than theory.
An Irish Endurance Mindset
ALTAR is rooted in Irish endurance sport—where training often means long stretches alone, changing conditions, and quiet consistency over time. The name comes from a concept Conor used in his own training: the “altar” as a mental space where discipline takes over from doubt, and you decide to continue.
That idea sits behind the brand.
As ALTAR puts it:
“In every run, there comes a moment where you either give in or go deeper.”
For us at New Leaf, it’s a strong example of an Irish brand shaped directly by the athlete behind it—built from experience first.
