Mobile Marathon Relay

We met as planned at 06:45am on Friday 06th in Heuston Station and travelled to Galway with Carmel from the Jack & Jill Foundation. Arriving into Galway at 10:00 I made my way with Carmel to Galway Bay FM for a pre run interview while the lads waited at Eyre Sq for the arrival of our Support Van and Darren our Driver / support crew. We didn't have a lot of time between arriving in Galway and starting the run and before we knew it we were running on the first leg of our journey towards Oranmore. Leaving Galway we were joined by a local runner Stephen Connaire from Loughrea and his local knowledge was a great help getting us out of the city.

The day was quite warm which didn't suit as I knew staying hydrated could be a problem but having the van no more than 10k ahead prevented any problems. The route to Oranmore and onwards to Loughrea was quite scenic and the time passed quite quickly. We shared the distance running an average of 10K at a time with the resting runners travelling in the support van.

Anthony didn't make the start of the relay as he couldn't get off work but made his way to Ballinasloe and joined the team as we passed through the town. He threw his bag into the van and started on the road to Athlone. Athlone was the end of Day 1 and shortly after arriving at our hotel we met up for dinner and took a tour of the town.

Day 2 was to start at 8am but based on our timings from Day 1 we knew a later start would still have us arriving on time into Mullingar which was 50K away. Unlike yesterday it was raining and looked like it was down for the day. My plan for today was to run what would have been my regular training run followed by a long recovery type run at a much slower pace.

As planned we passed through Mullingar on time and made our way to Athboy and finished slightly ahead of time in Navan. We were all fairly tired by the time we reached Navan didn't have a repeat of Friday night.

Day 3 and yet again we decide to start later than originally planned knowing that we had plenty of time to reach the Spire on Dublin's O'Connell St at 2pm. The route to Dublin from here was fairly direct and on the way we met up with family and friends some of whom would run with us to the finish. We took a slight detour as we approached the Phoenix Park to avoid road closures and made our way towards the Quays leading towards O'Connell St. Slightly ahead of time we slowed down slightly as we approached O'Connell St and then it was all over. The phone collection along the way didn't go too well but we did get a fair amount of media coverage which should in turn raise awareness for the foundation.

My thanks to all who helped along the way and thanks to the team that were asked to take part at short notice. I knew there wasn't time to train for this event and although the distances were divided up well I knew that if anyone dropped out due to injury or some other reason any other runner could have taken up the slack.

The Team:

Seamus O'Dowd, Clogherhead, Co.Louth

Anthony Lee, Clane Co.Kildare

Padraic Doherty, Maynooth, Co.Kildare

Tracking The Mobile Marathon Relay

The Mobile Marathon Relay for the Jack and Jill Foundation starts tomorrow and you can follow our progress online by clicking here.

The Jack & Jill Mobile Phone Relay

Over the past few years I've been helping to raise awareness for a local Charity called The Jack & Jill Children's foundation and next month I'm involved in a fundraising effort through the collection of old mobile phones as per the attached press release.  The plan is to run with 2 running friends from Galway to Dublin and collect 10,000 old / unused / broken mobile phones along the way.  It might sound like an ambitious target but I'm guessing that there must be thousands more than this figure lying around because most people I mention this to reply saying that they have 2 or 3 at home.  Collection points will be set up in advance with full details available shortly from Jack & Jill.

Please contact Deirdre in Jack & Jill 045894538 for more information or Jonathan Irwin on 087 2558451.

 

Mobile marathon from Galway to Dublin in August in aid of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation

39 year old John O’Regan from  Leixlip  will run a Mobile Marathon Relay from Galway to Dublin on 7th, 8th, and 9th August 2009 in aid of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation and he’s looking for more relay partners to join in along the way for any distance – long or short.  The target is to collect 10,000 mobile phones along the route and John & his team are asking people of every age to join in by paying an entry fee of 3 old mobile phones at the 10 designated pick up points along the route.   The Jack & Jill Mobile Marathon will take the AA Roadwatch route avoiding motorways, passing through Oranmore, Loughrea, Ballinasloe, Athlone, Mullingar, Athboy, Navan, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne and then finishing at The Spire in Dublin’s O’Connell Street.  John who works with Irish Rail is well known for planning “unusual” runs for charity  earlier this year he ran the 1576 steps of The Empire State Building in New York.  He also ran a Marathon on each of the seven continents, the North Pole Marathon in April 2004 and many more.

 

People can find out more about the Jack & Jill Mobile Marathon and how they can join in by logging onto jackandjill.ie The Jack & Jill Foundation supports 300 families around the country with children who are born with or who develop brain damage and who suffer severe neurological delay and need intensive home nursing care as a result.

 

Welcoming the new fundraising initiative, Jonathan Irwin, CEO of Jack & Jill said, “We are delighted to see volunteers like John supporting our families who live in every community in Ireland through exciting initiatives like this one.  We have huge admiration for John and his crew and we will have drop off points for mobile phones all along the route and we’ll be following the race in a Jack & Jill van.  I want to remind people that 250 old mobile phones buys home nursing care for a sick child for one month and it doesn’t matter if people run a few paces or a few kilometres – every little helps and this mobile marathon will go a long way to achieving our 2009 target of collecting 500,000 phones.  I want to thank John and his team in advance, to wish them the best of luck and to ask communities along the route to show their support by joining in.”

 

The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation (www.jackandjill.ie) was set up in 1997 by Jonathan Irwin and his wife MaryAnn O’Brien (MD of Lily O’Brien’s) to help young children in Ireland who are born with or develop brain damage and who suffer severe intellectual and physical developmental delay as a result.  They decided to set up Jack & Jill based on their own experience with their son Jack whoseshort life showed them the ideal way in which little children can be nursed at home.  From their experience evolved the Jack & Jill model of home nursing and respite care that supports 302 families in Ireland today and has helped over 1,100 children and their families since 1997.  The service includes home visits, advice, information, funding, lobbying and bereavement support.

 

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For further information:       Jonathan Irwin 087 2558451