Ballina support for 32 Marathon Challenge

Two Mullingar-based runners, Gerry Duffy and Ken Whitelaw, have undertaken to run 32 marathons in 32 counties in 32 successive days in aid of Irish Autism Action.

Gerry Duffy and Ken Whitelaw, have undertaken to run 32 marathons in 32 counties in 32 successive days in aid of Irish Autism Action

Ballina was the venue for the 17th marathon and marked the second half of this physical and logistical challenge.

The organisers of the highly successful River Moy Half Marathon (Alan Murphy, Liz Murphy and Mary Horkan) were contacted and asked to organise the Mayo leg of this challenge and they did so with their usual blend of infectious enthusiasm and professionalism.

Carmel Hiney, Caroline Galvin and others from the Mayo Autism support group also gave great support to the eventon the day for what is a very worthy cause.

Once again, the Ballina Rugby Club clubrooms were the race headquarters and a very special atmosphere prevailed on the day to support the two runners in their unique challenge.

As the Mayo challenge was on a Sunday, friends of Gerry and Ken travelled from Mullingar to support them on the day. One such supporter was Enda Finnerty, brother of 1996 Olympian Cormac Finnerty and cousin of former Mayo footballer Anthony Finnerty from Moygownagh.

Another cousin of his from the other side of the family is Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given! They were all joined by athletes from Mayo with most coming from the local club, Ballina AC. Most completed the half marathon and some completed the entire marathon with Gerry and Ken.

Not content with the fact that he has run the Barcelona, Connemara, Belfast and Cork marathons already this year, the 70 year old legendary Tom Horkan completed the full 26 miles on the day!

Pride of place on the day, however, goes to another local runner Evie Murphy who completed her first ever marathon on the day. Evie has being running for a relatively short time and can be assured that all her friends in Ballina AC are proud of her achievement!

The local organisers, Alan, Mary and Liz should also be proud of the work they put in to make the Mayo leg of the challenge a special occasion! They had the course well stewarded and water stations were in all the right places.

Friends and family were asked/cajoled to volunteer their time and they also ensured that the local support was in keeping with what we have grown to expect from Ballina! Such was their  enthusiasm for the challenge, all three travelled to Sligo on the following Tuesday to support Gerry and Ken in the Sligo leg of the 32 marathon challenge!

You will find all the contact information for Mayo Autism in the Mayo Mobile Phone Directory – on PC or in our mobile browser.