Athlone will be one of the locations in a massive fundraising endeavour for the Aware charity, when a man attempts to run a half-marathon in every county in Ireland in less than a fortnight next month.
On October 20 Armagh native, Paul Callaghan, will run the 13.1 miles around Athlone, after having already done exactly the same around Sligo and Roscommon earlier that day.
He starts his quest in his adopted home town of Ennis on October 18, and will finish up in Limerick on October 31, taking only two days rest throughout the fortnight.
His efforts will equate to running 16 marathons (419 miles or 675 km - the length of France ) in just 12 days, and he hopes to raise €20,000 for Aware, the national depression support charity.
“Having dealt with depression myself from the loss of my plastering business in 2008 I have bounced back with a new business venture and want to show that anything is possible,” he explained.
After the collapse of his business he struggled for over a year to find a way forward, but found some comfort during those tough days in discovering a new love and talent for cooking.
“I know what it’s like to be in that dark place, where it’s hard to have hope for the future. If it wasn’t for that experience though, I may not have developed my new career as a cook in the way that I have, and if it wasn’t for Aware, there would be a lot of people out there today who would still be struggling in the darkness that depression can bring. I’m proof that it is possible to come through depression and I want to raise money and awareness to help this nationwide organisation with its vital work,” continued Paul.
Further details can be got on thesustainablelarder.blogspot.ie or www.facebook.com/CalsoCooksOnTheRun as well as on twitter.com/calsocooks
