This article is from page 31 of the 2008-06-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
A SIXMILEBRIDGE man_ who braved a mixture of weather condi- tions and ran an ultra marathon for charity has raised almost €6,500.
Pat O’Keeffe undertook the mam- moth task of running the 39.3 mile ultra marathon in Connemara, in an effort to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House at Crumlin Chil- dren’s Hospital, in April.
Pat, who lives 1n Quin and works in the army, based in Limerick, was de- lighted with his time of seven hours, 10 minutes and 12 seconds. He was equally pleased with the €6,483.61 that he raised for his efforts.
He was keen to run as much of the race as he could and managed to run virtually all of it.
“T ran most of it,’ he laughed. “There were about three miles of very high climbs at the end that I walked.
“T enjoyed it. I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be. About 110 of us did the ultra and we had our own lit- tle group,” he said.
He faced a mixture of elements during the race, with snow, wind, rain and a bit of sun all featuring on STM Or RA
“To get to the finish was great. The last mile was brilliant, but the weath- er was cat. For the first mile we had snow, then there was wind for a lot of
it and a bit of rain, followed by love- ly sun, then wind and then another shower of snow,” he recalled.
Given that he has suffered severe back pain over the past four years, his achievement was all the more impressive. Pat ran his first marathon in Dublin in 1988 and has ran three others since then.
Last summer, he and a group of colleagues took to the bicycles and cycled from Shannon to Limerick, raising €5,000 in the process, also for Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
The fundraising was dedicated to a young Limerick girl, Sophie Mulc- ahy, who underwent several heart operations at the Crumlin hospital. While she was in hospital, her par- ents stayed at the Ronald McDonald House, which provides a supportive environment for families. Sophie’s father Liam works alongside Pat in the army.
And he doesn’t intend to rest on his laurels in the future. Pat has already pledged to take part in next year’s ultra marathon challenge in Conne- nerb eee
“I’ve entered for next year. I entered a week afterwards. I did it for char- ity this year. Next year, Ill do it for myself and hope to better my time,” he enthused.
His task would not have been pos- sible without the help of his family, friends and work colleagues, along
with everybody who donated money towards the fund.
“It’s amazing the amount of good- will that is out there. I stood outside the pharmacy at Dunnes Stores one Saturday and collected €892 that day alone, despite the fact there was another collection taking place the
same day. It was amazing,” he said.