Mayo man to run Dublin Marathon for popular charity

He has played in the white heat of battle for Hollymount, carried the football dream for a lifetime and now he’s facing a huge personal challenge for the good of others. Matthew Gill has been associated with the joys of Gaelic football since birth but carried a serious interest in athletics all his life. He will develop that fascination even more on Sunday next when he takes his place alongside 22,500 other runners at the start line of the Dublin City Marathon. 

This is the second of three challenges that Matthew is taking on in an effort to raise funds for Group 109 of Irish Pilgrimage Trust and their trip to Lourdes next Easter. The Hollymount man is determined to do as much as he possibly can to raise funds for the charity and will carry that resilience to the start line on Sunday. He has already completed the RunGalwayBay half Marathon on Saturday, October 5 and hopes to complete his three-part challenge at the Sea2Summit in Westport on November 9.

“It’s a wonderful charity, doing so much good for so many and running the marathon on Sunday is the least I could do,” Matthew told The Mayo News. “The Irish Pilgrimage Trust travel to Lourdes every Easter bringing kids and young adults with additional needs on a holiday of a lifetime. There are up to 50 different groups all over Ireland who travel with this charity every year. Group 109 is a local group from the South Mayo/North Galway area and I’ve been travelling and helping out for a number of years. I’m honoured to currently be the leader of Group 109 and I wanted to do something to help out.” 

Matthew is certainly ‘doing something’ and his 3 Challenges’ project has already received great support as he attempts to raise much-needed funds for the trip to Lourdes.  There are up to 15 voluntary carers in each group (including a group nurse and priest) who take annual leave from their own day jobs and pay all their own expenses for the Easter Pilgrimage to Lourdes. In addition to this, each group has to raise up to €25,000 which means all of the ‘Guests’ with additional needs can travel with no cost to them or their families. Fundraising for Group 109 is in full swing with a number of events planned over the next few months. Matthew’s ‘3 Challenges’ is part of this fundraising drive.

The Hollymount man has completed six marathons previously, but this will be the first since he ran the New York Marathon in 2018. That event was also used as a fundraiser for the Irish Pilgrimage trust raising over €3,500 for the trip in 2019. Having completed the Dublin Marathon on three previous occasions he will be very familiar with the course, but the biggest challenge he will face this year will be to complete the three tough endurance events in such a short space of time. 

Training has been going pretty well and he finished a very impressive 16th  in the Galway Bay half marathon with a time of 1 hour 25 minutes, but the full marathon on Sunday will be an entirely different challenge. 

“I’m looking forward to it, but one can never underestimate the challenge a marathon throws up. No matter how many you’ve done, the marathon distance is a massive challenge. If I get around that in one piece, I’ll have a short two weeks to recover to get to the start line of Sea2Summit. The goal will be completing all three events without picking up any injury,  the prize will be the funds raised for the Irish Pilgrimage Trust and the winners will be all the kids and young adults with additional needs who will benefit from these funds,” he continued.

“Like every charity, the Irish Pilgrimage Trust faces challenging times as they’re totally dependant on the generosity of others to keep the show on the road. They do not benefit from any government funding therefore 100% of funds required must be raised by volunteers.

“The annual trip to Lourdes is a fantastic experience both for the volunteers and the guests they bring. The happiness experienced by the kids and young adults is what drives so many people to try and raise funds. They’ll be in my mind on Sunday when I’m running in Dublin,” Matthew explained. 

You can follow Matthew’s progress through the social media pages of ‘Group 109 Irish Pilgrimage Trust’ or indeed Matthew’s own personal page. Donations to these Challenges can be made through the iDonate fundraising page: Click here.

All donations will be greatly appreciated by all members of Group 109 and will benefit many young adults with Additional needs next Easter.