North Clondalkin Running Club members Keiron Lewis and Shane Bowden
Quadrathon runners raise over €2,200 for CAP
NORTH Clondalkin run club are known for facilitating newer less experienced runners with one of their couch to 5km programs beginning in Collinstown Park earlier this week, however the club is also composed of far more experienced members such as the likes of Keiron Lewis and Shane Bowden who recently undertook the Quadrathon challenge.
The Quadrathon saw the pair race four marathons across four days in the Inishowen peninsula of Donegal at the end of August, raising money for the ‘CAP’ or the Clondalkin Autism Parent support network.
The principal goal of the fundraiser was to purchase adaptive running buggies so that children with autism and special needs would still be able to participate and get involved with North Clondalkin Running Club.
These buggies can vary in price in the hundreds of euro to the more advanced models suitable for intense exercise in the thousands.
The training plan that Keiron and Shane took part in was designed to go for 26 weeks and involved multiple days in a row of running upwards of 20km in order to prepare them for the ordeal ahead.
Though both runners would find themselves injured and the training compromised because of it.
Throughout the races, the runners were assisted by Keiron’s wife Kerry Barratt, a massage therapist who provided post race messages and lymphatic drainage after each race which enabled the runners to recover quicker between races and aided in completing the amount of miles necessary with the back to back marathons.
Speaking to Keiron Lewis after the event he reflected on some of the more challenging aspects of the experience.
“A place called Mamore Gap, it’s a climb of 900ft all in the space of a mile, it’s straight up.
‘You’re climbing it. It’s mental. When you’re climbing up Mamore gap which is almost ¾ through your third marathon, it’s just in your head.
‘It’s 80% mental and 20% physical. We know what we can do physically, we’ve done marathons in the past and we’ve done two and a half before we got to that gap.
‘We knew it’s just mental, just go over it like.”
The duo ended up raising over €2,200 for the club which will go towards facilitating the purchase of new running buggies.
Keiron would be entitled to a break after such an event but is showing no signs of stopping scheduled to take part in the Dublin City Marathon as well as the over 50km championships over the coming months.
