Tullamore Half Marathon first timers 'buzzing' as big day draws near

Two young men who attend RehabCare Canal View, Tullamore are ramping up their training and preparations ahead of the Tullamore Half Marathon this Saturday, August 30.

Daire Farrelly and Jordan Rattigan are participating in their first ever half marathon event, having only began their training and distance running in January of this year. The duo are being coached and mentored by RehabCare programme facilitator William Doyle, with the encouragement of fellow members of the service and the wider staff team.

RehabCare Canal View Day centre, based at Grand Canal House in the heart of Tullamore, is a support service that caters for people of varying abilities, providing person-centred programmes to enhance independence. People attending the service are supported on a daily basis to create community connections and develop confidence.

“I love Tullamore and I’m excited to do the half marathon with my friend, Daire,” said Jordan, from Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath.

“My key worker, William, got me into running. I’ve never done anything like this in my life. I’ve played soccer all my life, I love soccer, but running is new to me. I’ve been training at home in Kilbeggan, and across Tullamore, and building up my routine. Keeping fit is very important. What I say is that a healthy body keeps a healthy mind. It’s good for your mental health.”

Daire, from Portarlington, said that “being out and about, doing things, is so important. I have to be active all of the time.”

Daire recently secured a coveted place playing for Shelbourne Football Club’s Inclusion Team. He added: “There are so many people behind me, supporting me. I’m learning a lot at Shelbourne, I’m getting better at it, and I’m taking what I’ve learned and bringing it back here to our service, so I think it’s helping everyone else to get even better too. When we’ve been preparing for the Tullamore Half Marathon, we work as a team. We come together as a team. We’re like family.”

William Doyle said both runners are “buzzing” in advance of the 13.1-mile/21k endeavour.

“In RehabCare, our message is that you never give up, you have to believe in yourself. It’s building that mind-set, that they can do things like this. It’s building belief,” said William.

“In January, we began the ‘Couch to 5k’ challenge in our service. Sport is my background, and I was telling the group about my experience, having run six Dublin city marathons. The members of the service started saying, ‘I’d love to do that, why can’t we do that’. Lots of people were eager to take part, and they’re all very encouraging towards each other. Many people in our service are now frequently walking and running together, doing a 5k or 10k, whatever works for them, and they’re loving it.

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“When we first started this, it took a while for Daire and Jordan to get to running one kilometre, then they very quickly built up their time and distance. It took off from there, and the conversations started coming up about doing a marathon, so we said we’d go for it. Everyone is so proud of what they have achieved so far.”

The RehabCare Tullamore team is calling for people in the community to support Daire and Jordan on the day.

William added: “We’re fundraising for our service as part of our marathon involvement. There are so many more activities that all the members in our service would like to do, especially activities that are centred on sports. We’re fundraising to get more equipment, especially accessible equipment and sporting gear, so that as many people as possible can take part.”

With plans to take part in the Dublin city marathon in October, William said: “We’ve lots of future plans, so we want to say thank you to everyone who donated to our service so far, we appreciate it, and to keep an eye what we do next.”

Those who wish to support the RehabCare Tullamore fundraiser can email: info@rehabcare.ie

The Bord na Mona Tullamore Half Marathon is hosted by Tullamore Harriers and takes place on Saturday, August 30. In addition to being a challenge for fun runners and serious athletes alike, it incorporates the National Half Marathon Championships, the Leinster Half Marathon Championships and the Offaly Half Marathon Championships.

It starts on the Charleville Road at 10am and passes through Mucklagh, Killurin, and Cloonagh before arriving at Tullamore Harriers where runners complete a lap of the stadium track on their way to the finish line.