On Father’s Day, Sunday 21 June, local runner Mary-Clare Healy ran a marathon in memory of her own father, and to raise money for the Alzheimer Society of Ireland.
Covering the 42 kilometre distance in just over 4 hours and 30 minutes, Mary-Clare raised €5,600, breaking through the upper ceiling of €5,000 that she had set.
In a post on social media, Mary-Clare thanked everyone who had donated to her fundraising efforts, and the friends, family and fellow runners from Grange-Fermoy AC, for their support.
Her father, John ‘Spud’ Murphy, lived with vascular dementia for a number of years, prior to his passing. The Alzheimer Society of Ireland, and the worked that it carries out, is important to Mary-Clare.
“Any time I did a marathon my dad used to say: ‘You will kill yourself running’. But today I found out ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’” Mary-Clare said, following the marathon.
