After thrilling eliminator
SLIGO households tuned into Ireland’s Fittest Family with great interest last Sunday as the Regan family from Tubbercurryfeatured for the first time.
The Regan family, made up of contestants Cathy, her sons Paul and David and her daughter, Ciara are extremely active people and very involved in sport and fitness.
”I think as a family we’re always on the go, we’re always active” said son, Paul.
“We have 14 marathons done between us, eight of those are mams” said daughter, Ciara “Cathy is in great shape, Ciara, young andfit, Paul and David seem really good. My job is to get them through to the quarter finals,” said coach and hurling legend Davy Fitzgerald upon his first impression of the team.
The south Sligo team started their journey on Ireland’s Fittest Family with a new and even more challenging version of ‘Fast and Furious’, with the addition of rat tunnels and cargo nets to the already brutal course.
Each team went head-to-head in the relentless relay race.
The Regan family got off to a rocky start, David slipped off the balance beam into third place, and Cathy fell into last.
Unfortunately, they were unable to claim first place, but kept ploughing through the competition’s tough ordeals.
“It’s disappointing to be fourth. If we want it enough, if we want it enough as a family, I believe anything can happen next,” said coach Davy, in response to the results of the challenge, still full of hope and belief in his family.
Determined yet anxious from the unfortunate outcome, the Regans charged headfirst into the next challenge of “Raft Raid”, in which the families had to carry a 20kg raft to a lake and then pull each other across it.
Only two people were allowed on the raft at once.
After this tough challenge, they then had to carry the raft to a marked spot.
Off to a ferocious start, Paul Regan was impressive and after coach Davy’s clever tactics, the family had two members across the water out of four. David then took over, and the family smashed the previous record of fourminutes and 15 seconds with a time of three minutes and 59.
“Usually you’d have one or two little mistakes, but we were flawless” said Coach Davy, delighted with the family’s excellent performance
It was an already eventful day for the families as it came time to learn who was progressing to the next stage of the competition.
The McNallys from Monaghan went straight through to the quarter finals, with the Peters from Waterford leaving the competition, leaving the Finnegans from Cork and the Regans from Sligo to battle it out in “the gruelling eliminator”
Filled with fear and fire, the families took off, but it was the Finnegans who enjoyed an early lead.
Facing a major setback with one of the first obstacles, the Regans fell majorly behind their opponents to the point where all hope seemed lost.
The Regans persisted relentlessly and despite their major setback managed to catch up to the Finnegans at the all-important three and a half meter tall ramp at the very end.
A tense battle took place at the end with both families fighting to get a grip on the ramp. David Regan shot up the ramp, and managed to get on top, putting the two families on the same footing. However, David was the only member of his family to get up the ramp, and the Finnegans pulled ahead with a very close victory.
“I’m disappointed. I think we could have got there, I think we could have got there, but when you get 100% from a family, that’s all you can ask for,” said coach Davy in response to the disappointing turn of events.
The Regans performed exceptionally, overcoming the odds and turning the tables on the other teams several times. They may not have won the competition, but they definitely won the hearts of people everywhere for their inpspiring and motivational effort.