Mark’s marathon challenge for friend Kevin

MARATHON man Mark Conlon is preparing for his latest challenge of 12 marathons in 12 days in the UK.

Former army man Conlon from Clondalkin, who has completed countless marathons for charity, is taking on his latest challenge for Bone Marrow Trust, in London, starting on March 23.

“It’s a big event, there will be loads of other people there running for their own causes,” said Mark.

“I will be running with a Dundalk woman Collette O’Hagan (78) who is closing in on her 1,000th marathon. She is an amazing woman.”

Last August, Mark went to Italy and completed 10 marathons in 10 days in aid of children’s hospitals in Dublin.

This time around, Mark wants to honour a close friend Kevin Rooney, who survived an aggressive cancer and rare diseases myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) as well as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

The charity helped Kevin, one of only 100 people in the world known to have suffered from a combination of two challenging diseases.

Kevin Rooney

Rooney, from Clondalkin and now living in Newcastle, began suffering from bad headaches in 2009, and although training for the Dublin marathon at the time, he collapsed and was rushed to hospital.

A month later, he underwent full-body radiation to kill off all his white blood cells. The next day, he had his bone-marrow transplant.

Kevin was later told he had a 0.1 per cent chance of fathering a child but just six months later, his daughter Hope was born.

Mark says Kevin, who is married to his cousin Saoirse, is providing his motivation for the London challenge.

“If anyone wants to donate they can HERE.

Also If any local companies want to be my sponsor, get in touch at Marathonman8888 on Instagram or Mark Conlon on Facebook. Sponsors so far include Abacus Systems and Network LTD, Asics O’Connell Street

@ShuzGroup, Dublin Bus, Lazer Centre Hume Street, Tomas Ronan Back Clinic Ballyfermot,” said Mark.