Friends raise over €5k following 50Km run in Fermoy
In a fundraising effort for The National Breast Cancer Research Institute, local men Willie Cody and Maurice Tobin undertook a 50Km challenge last week, raising over €5,000 to date, reports Katie Glavin.
The fundraising event saw the men take to St Colman’s walking track in Fermoy, where they completed a staggering 40 laps within five hours and 10 minutes, with the challenge getting underway at 1.45pm.
Speaking with The Avondhu, Willie said he had only ever completed one marathon before, which was in 2005. However, his good friend and dedicated runner Maurice Tobin, has completed many over the years.
“It was coming up to a big birthday for me, and I had been thinking about doing a 50Km run, and after speaking about it with my family, it became a reality.
“I’m a member of Grange Fermoy Athletic Club and I run with three other people in a small group, Maurice Tobin along with Amelia and Brian O’Connor. Maurice decided to do the 50Km with me and Amelia and Brian trained with us over the last four months,” Willie said.
VOLUME OF DONATIONS ‘A MASSIVE SHOCK’
Willie set up a fundraising page online on iDonate.ie, where individuals could donate to Breast Cancer Research in support of the 50Km challenge which the men looked to conquer.
For Willie, this charity is one that is close to his heart, as his mother Maureen, recently had a reoccurrence of breast cancer, 10 years after her initial diagnosis.
According to Willie, he had initially set a target of €1,000 on the idonate page in the hopes that both he and Maurice’s large families could reach the target.
Much to their surprise, the iDonate page has now reached over €5,000 in donations.
“It was a massive shock. Grange AC is such a fantastic club and everybody was so supportive. To see all the donations, it was just fabulous,” Willie added.
The support didn’t stop there however, as most of the club showed up on the day to offer some socially distanced support.
“We probably had more than half of the club out, either running with us from a safe distance or just enjoying the day,” Willie said.
On the day, Claire Lomasney also joined in on the running effort and ran a marathon of 26.2 miles in the opposite direction to the lads, in support of the cause.
The fundraising page, which has now had over 131 fantastic supporters, remains open until May 1 and can be found at www. idonate. ie/ WillieMaurices50kmrun for those wishing to contribute.