Kilworth native runs marathon for Cork Penny Dinners
Kilworth native Kieran Walsh recently undertook a marathon challenge in aid of Cork Penny Dinners.
Kieran who now lives in Silversprings, Cork said that this is only his second ever marathon since running the Dublin City Marathon in 2017.
“While the lockdown was on, I wanted to do something for charity and a marathon is on a lot of people’s bucket lists. It took me four years, but I did it,” Kieran said.
Despite the four-year marathon break, Kieran was no stranger to running as he often completes 5K and 10K during the GAA off-season as a way to stay active.
Having moved to Cork City from his home at New Road when he married, Kieran maintains his loyalty to Kilworth by continuing to hurl with the intermediate senior team.
“I’ve been playing with Kilworth all my life, I’m 43 now and I’m still playing,” he said
According to Kieran, his choice to fundraise for Cork Penny Dinners was an accumulation of a number of recent events.
“We do a charity event every now and then, but I was out on one of my training runs and a few things struck me. There were teddy bears tied around the river in the city and there were little notes on these teddies, reaching out to people struggling with their mental health, telling them they are loved. These teddies were put there by Cork Penny Dinners. That struck me.
“There was another news story last week about a homeless person who died, and a family couldn’t be located but Cork Penny Dinners took it upon themselves to give that person a dignified funeral. The work they do is so important and I just wanted to try and give something back,” Kieran said.
On the morning of Saturday last, Kieran set out on his marathon from his home in Silversprings and travelled out to Glanmire and back in around Cork City.
Support was shown along the way by Kieran’s co-worker Sam Murphy, who cycled alongside Kieran during the last 5km stretch of the marathon run.
Kieran’s wife Caitríona and two daughters Niamh and Aisling, also supported Kieran at various points along the run, offering much-needed drinks and refreshments to encourage him along the way.
An iDonate page was set up for donations to Kieran’s marathon run in aid of Cork Penny Dinners which, at the time of writing, was almost €1,800.
“The iDonate page is flying it at the moment. I was blown away by the response. It’s at almost €1,800 and will be open for another month so hopefully, it will reach €2,000,” Kieran told The Avondhu.