Mayo man to attempt 24-hour run around Achill Island for charity

As someone who always had a keen interest in athletics, running a marathon has always been a target for Achill man Toirlach Dever but he never imagined his first will be directly followed by two more full marathons.

The Achill GAA footballer has set himself the task of running for 24 hours around the whole parish of Achill and when it is all over he expects to clock up a massive 126km or three full marathons.

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The mammoth task starts this Friday at 3pm when he sets off running from Glór na dTonn in Currane and over the next 24 hours he will continue to run through the whole parish before finishing up in Coláiste Acla in Dooega on Saturday afternoon.

“I always wanted to do something that has never been done before in Achill and this certainly has never been done so I thought why not,” he told The Mayo News.

“It was around October when it came into my head. I took off running one day and had covered some good ground and was around the Atlantic Drive and the thought came to me.

“I rang my best friend Stephen Kelly who was in Australia and I ran it by him. He did not say it was a bad idea so I thought we might be on to something here and to crack on.”

The 27-year-old from Saula, who is currently studying for his Masters in Education through Irish in University of Galway, felt that now was the time to do it and targeted the St Patrick's weekend when the island will be full.

Over the winter months he set about pounding the roads of Achill to get in the shape of his life but as anyone who has run the Achill Half-Marathon will testify, there is no shortage of hills in Achill to get over.

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Plenty of hills

“I NEVER realised there are so many hills in Achill,” he laughed when discussing his training and adding that the bad weather over the winter has not been ideal.

“When you are running in Achill you have to take into account time, distance, elevation and weather. There would be some days the wind would be pushing you back but once you get through it and get home you are glad you did it.”

Running long distances especially on your own can be every bit as mentally challenging as it is physically. It is quite apt so that apart from the challenge, Toirlach hopes to use the run to raise funds for Grow, a mental health charity, and raise awareness of mental health.

While he says he has not suffered from mental health issues he feels it is important that people are not afraid to speak if they are not feeling good.

“Once I had the idea I knew I wanted to do it for mental health. I don't have a story myself about being affected by mental health but it is just something I think people need to talk about more. The way I look at it is if a young lad or girl in Achill sees the likes of me come out and say it's okay to not be okay sometimes well it will make all the difference to me.

“You are kidding yourself if mental health hasn't affected your family in any shape or form. It affects every family really when you think about it.

“One or two people have mentioned it to me and that is when it hit me that this run might be bigger than what I think it is. I started off thinking this is just me running around Achill but hearing one or two saying what it means makes you stop and realise that this might actually help someone down the line. This money might help someone I might never meet but the fact it is being raised through me gives me the encouragement to kick on,” he added.

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Apprehensive

When he first announced that he was going to run around Achill for 24 hours, Toirlach admits he was apprehensive about the reaction he would get locally and if they would think he was daft. However, he said the support has been beyond his wildest expectations with a number of people reaching out to give tips on how to prepare and also joining him on his training runs.

“The support has been unbelievable. I am blessed that my friends and family who have been helping me are all pushing me on and it is all good craic.

“In fairness when I first said it I was very worried that people would be calling me daft and saying what am I at and I won't be able to do it. But I have to say people have been talking about it in a very positive way and are looking forward to it. I am lucky enough to be able to train the minor team and a couple of the parents have been saying the lads want to go out running with me and that is class to hear.”

Toirlach expects to have a back up team of between ten and 20 people helping him on the day and he hopes that people will join him for the run along different sections of the route. After the first 42km he will take a short break at Ted's Bar in Cashel where he will refuel and have local acupuncturist Mary Cattigan bring life back onto his legs before moving on again.

“Running through the night will be the fun part ... that is where you really get to test your metal,” he observed but feels ready for what comes his way both physically and mentally.

“I did wonder if I could do this myself up until a couple of weeks ago when I said I can do this and I'm ready. The body is in good nick and at this stage I can't wait to get started.

“I don't think I will break down. I think I might start to hit the wall and that is a worry but that is what the team around me is for, to drag my heels and get me through those couple of kilometers and move on.

“At the end of the day it is going to be a bit of craic and no matter how many times I have to stop and catch my breath I will keep going anyway. There are times when you are running and every runner hits a wall but you have to keep going one step at a time.

“The way I look at this run it is one hour at a time, one village at a time and we will get through it.”

To support Toirlach on his 24-hour run challenge, click here.