A Coalisland man is taking on the challenge of running 52 marathons over 52 weeks as he seeks to give back to the GAA club he has been associated with for decades.
Gerard Devlin is a former Coalisland Fianna player and his son Niall recently captained Tyrone Under 21s to All-Ireland glory in 2019.
A keen runner and having set up the local running club a decade ago, Gerard has set himself the challenge of doing a marathon a week for the next year.
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He kicked off the challenge last weekend and is hoping to bank a few extra runs over the Christmas period to keep himself ahead of the game.
“I did the first one last weekend down at the club in the early hours of the morning. It was a wee bit repetitive but I got it out of the road," Gerard told Belfast Live.
“I’ll be doing one every weekend now until Halloween next year again.
“At Christmas I'll be off for a few weeks so I’ll be able to get a few in the bank in case anything goes wrong throughout the year.
“I formed the Fianna Runners ten years ago and we bring a wee group around the world to different marathons and half marathons.
“The point is to gather funds for the club here and its development, we will be giving some to a local charity as well but it’s my way of giving back to the club that has been very good to me over the years.
After this mammoth challenge however, Gerard added that his marathon days will soon be behind him.
“To date I’ve done 56 marathons over a 30 year period, I started doing it when I finished playing for the club and wanted to keep my fitness up, and it escalated from there.
“I would love to say that I’ve done 100 marathons so with the help of God this will bring me to 108.
“I’m planning to do my last ever one in Tokyo in 2024. It’s one of the six major marathons and I’ve done the other five so it’s an itch I just need to scratch.”
Gerard has already raised more than £1,000 for his local club, and if anyone who would like donate can visit his GoFundMe page.
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