Maurice’s Ultra effort
LESS than 24 hours on from finishing a super-human 66km looped run in aid of the very worthy charity that is Recovery Haven, Tralee’s Maurice Kelter summed up his reaction to everything that’s happened in the last week in just one word - ‘overwhelming’.
Without even a hint of pain or tiredness in his voice, he is speaking to us after successfully completing a hope affirming ultra-marathon distance run all around Tralee town on what would have been his late mom’s 66th birthday.
His mom, Ann (pictured inset) passed away from cancer in July 2018.
Having set up a GoFundMe page and initially setting the target figure at €660 – a figure he originally thought was too lofty a target – the young man has blown this figure out of the water by raising, at the time of going to print a whopping €16,311.
“I’m surprisingly feeling okay to be honest. I thought I’d be glued to the bed this morning but the legs are not feeling too bad thankfully,” he said on Monday afternoon.
“If I was to put it into one word how I’m feeling right now, it’d simply be overwhelmed. It’s just phenomenal really. People are just beyond generous and beyond kind. Everyone is kind of struggling right now what with everything that’s going on with coronavirus, so to see the support that I got for this run, it’s just been unbelievable,” he said.
Reflecting on the run itself, Maurice said that in anticipation of any ‘down moments’ during his endeavour, he had prepared himself with a huge playlist of music and had even downloaded one or two audio books to listen to.
Amazingly, though, Maurice said that for the entire 66km, he didn’t listen to his phone once.
“There were people beeping their horns, people out waving flags and when I ran through my old estate at St Brendan’s Park, there were people out standing in their doors waving and cheering me on. With all this support, the kilometres just ticked away,. I was waiting for the legs to go and the mind to go but, surprisingly, that moment just never came,” he continued.
The secret to any task is to break it down into a smaller parts and, for Maurice, it was no different.
“When I hit the marathon mark, that 42km milestone, every step that I took after that was further than I’d ever ran before so that was an achievement in itself. It was just brilliant,” he said.
With the run being dedicated to his mom, there was always going to be one or two emotional parts of the run and Maurice said that it running past his and his mom’s old house in Brendan’s Park that hit him the most.
“Definitely going through the estate, especially the last time, because there was so many people out cheering that it just kind of hit me then and especially running past the old house, that was a little tough.”
“When I was planning out the route, I thought maybe I should avoid the house because obviously that would be quite sad for me but it ended up being my favourite part because it was just nice to see everyone,” he continued.
Reflecting on how valuable the money raised will be for Recovery Haven, especially in a time when all fundraising is virtually at a standstill, Maurice is delighted that such a brilliant charity, and a local one at that, will benefit.
“It’ll go a long, long way with them and that’s lovely to think about, especially since it’s a local charity and it’s a small charity as well. This money will make a difference to them and that’s really nice to know,” he said.
Maurice will be keeping his GoFundMe page open until at least Friday for anyone who wishes to donate; the link to the page is up on the Recovery Haven Facebook page.
TRALEE MAN RAISES A WHOPPING €16K FOR RECOVERY HAVEN AS HE RUNS 66KM IN MEMORY OF HIS MOM, ANN, ON WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HER 66TH BIRTHDAY.
It’ll go a long, long way with them and that’s lovely to think about. This money will make a difference