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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Damien Edgar

The Co Down man who summited Slieve Donard 100 times in a year

A Hillsborough man is celebrating after completing his goal of running up and down Slieve Donard 100 times in a year.

Steven Morgan turned 50 earlier this year and had set himself the target as a personal milestone.

He also raised more than £3,500 along the way for NI Chest, Heart and Stroke after his own father suffered a stroke five years ago.

Read more: Co Down man close to target of 100 Slieve Donard runs in a year

Steven finally rounded off the feat on Saturday 17 December, meeting his goal to complete the challenege before Christmas.

"On that day I just felt like something special was going to happen," he said.

"The 99th run was special too on the previous Tuesday because it was in the snow and ice in the dark.

"Then the Saturday was just amazing, it just felt like I was walking on clouds and the weather was perfect.

"Friends from all parts of my life had come along and on the day it just felt amazing, it was hard to believe it was happening."

He was greeted by friends at the summit (Stephen Reid)

Steven said he was given a nice surprise as he completed his trek up the mountain, with about 50 people waiting to cheer him on.

He said his friends had been a great support throughout his runs.

"One of my friends, Stephen Bickerstaff, the night before he had carved out a lovely shape of Donard and put '100' on it and on the other side, '2022'," Steven added.

"And at the end he surprised me with it.

"I'm doing this obviously for my dad, so when I came back, I went over to Mum and Dad's.

"My dad had a stroke five years ago, and just mightn't be aware of what's happening, but just getting a photograph with him holding that wee plaque will stay with me forever."

He said he had started to think of a new challenge for next year already and that hitting 100 runs hadn't slowed him down much.

"It's funny, a lot of people have been asking me 'what's next?'," he said.

"This bit between Christmas and New Year will give me time to think so watch this space – it's just about giving my body time to recover.

"I did do 101 on Tuesday and I might squeeze in 102 by the end of the week so who knows?."

Steven now also plans to approach the Guinness World Records team with all the Strava information from his activities, as he believes he may be the first person to officially do 100 Slieve Donard runs in a year.

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