This article is from page 31 of the 2008-04-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
THEY have four marathons under their belts, but the challenge isn’t even 50 per cent complete. Two young Shannon men, who are un- dertaking to run 12 marathons in as many months, in aid of charity, are making good progress in their mis- sion.
Darren O’Connell (32) and Alan Mullin (30) from Tullyglass have so far run four marathons out of the 12. Although they have had a few pains and aches, so far, neither have re- ported any major problems and are still vowing to complete the mam- moth task.
The duo have run marathons in Zurich, Valencia, Rome and Con- nemara and among those they will run over the coming months are Hel- sinki, Berlin, Dublin, New York, Lis- bon and a midnight run in Norway in
June. The final run will take place in Milan in December.
Alan has found that his times have improved with each run — he ran Connemara in three hours 33 min- utes — while Darren has found it dif- ficult to run the 26 miles in less than four hours. But, they readily admit, it is all about taking part and raising money for charity. “It 1s not about times,” said Darren.
The two friends are raising money for Cystic Fibrosis, after a friend of theirs died from the condition sev- eral years ago and are hoping that the people of Shannon will recognise their huge efforts in this challenge.
They found the Connemara run particularly tough, as it came just three weeks after the Rome mara- thon, but it has not put them off.
“I found it really tough, through- out the race in Connemara, but I will have a good rest now for a few
weeks. The next one is the Burren, at the end of May,” said Darren.
Darren lives in Shannon, where he trains, while Dublin-based Alan does his running in the capital. The dark winter nights were tough for training, but Darren is enjoying run- ning around Shannon, now that the evenings are brighter.
Now that the running is going well, the two are now increasing the em- phasis on collecting as much money as possible for charity.
“The fundraising is going well. A lot of people are helping us out, col- lecting money. We will organise a few table quizzes in Dublin and in Shannon,” said Darren.
Dublin law firm Whitney Moore, where Alan works, has come on board, to help them with the sponsor- ship. However they are still appeal- ing to the people of Shannon to help them with their task.
Further details are available on their website www.12marathons.org.