Tribute to 8yr-old who set record in Dublin Marathon

THE father of brave Alanna Russell is to hold an inaugural run in her honour.

The little girl, who passed away on December 13, became the youngest person to complete the Dublin Marathon last year.

She made history when her dad Keith pushed her along the circuit in a wheelchair just before her eighth birthday.

Alanna was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy with no speech or use of her arms or legs. She also had impaired vision and epilepsy.

She was one of twins when she was born nine weeks premature but sadly her sister Isabelle died shortly before birth. The girls are now buried together in St Mary’s Cemetery in Navan, Co Meath.

Yesterday, Keith admitted the family were finding every day difficult coping with their loss. He said: “It’s very tough but you just have to keep occupied. We’re not great at saying how we’re feeling but we would talk about Alanna all day.

“We were given a box of pictures by her special care unit in Bailis but to be honest, we haven’t had it in us to open it yet. It’s one day at a time.

“We received hundreds of calls, cards and messages from all over the place. It’s amazing to see how much Alanna had an effect on people.

“Everyone said it was her eyes and smile, you couldn’t not but get drawn in by her and she loved all the attention when she was out running.

“I would never have started running or fundraising if it wasn’t for her. She made us realise people with disabilities can do anything as long as they have the right people around them.”

Through running with her dad, Alanna raised almost €70,000 for the Meadows Respite Centre in her home town of Navan. The funds were used for much-needed renovations and a new nine-seater wheelchair accessible mini-bus.

Now her family wants to honour their “beautiful daughter” in starting an annual 6km run on Sunday, July 29.

The Day To Remember Alanna event will start and finish at 121 Fitness in Mullaghboy.

Anyone can take part for a €20 fee which covers medals, T-shirts and goodie bags. Children go free when running with their parents. ■ Further information can be found at Team Alanna on Facebook or on myrunresults.com.

Alanna made us realise people with disabilities can do anything

KEITH RUSSELL

CO MEATH YESTERDAY