Coosan man completes gruelling Lough Ree running challenge

It was a birthday weekend Michael McDonnell won't forget in a hurry.

The Coosan native, who turned 36 on Sunday, spent the previous day completing a gruelling 85-kilometre running challenge which saw him run around the entirety of Lough Ree in aid of the Irish Cancer Society.

Starting outside Athlone Castle at 7am, Michael set off on a route that took in Glasson, Ballymahon, Newtowncashel, Lanesborough, Knockcroghery, Lecarrow, and back to Athlone, where he reached the Castle sometime after 11pm.

A suspected stress fracture in his foot made the latter stages of the run particularly difficult, and when Michael spoke to the Westmeath Independent on Monday evening he said the accomplishment was only just starting to sink in.

"As I said to my friends, I have found a way to be completely hungover without touching a drop of alcohol! I was fairly exhausted on Sunday," he said. "I couldn't really do steps or stairs. I couldn't move my legs. Today I can move them, so that's an improvement!"

As part of the challenge, he set up a 'JustGiving' fundraising page for donations to the Irish Cancer Society and at the time of writing over €1,800 had been raised for the charity.

Michael was delighted with the success of the fundraiser to date. "I was blown away by the support that people have shown," he said.

"(On the road) people were beeping their horns and waving. Around Newtowncashel, there was a man who lived up the road from where I was running and he waited for me and chatted away to me.

"He was a runner himself and said I should have let (the locals) know about the run, and they would have given me support. That was nice. I wouldn't know many people in the running community, but I'm hoping to meet a lot more because I'll be keeping up the ultra-distance running."

Michael said he's had a fascination with endurance running challenges for several years now. He had taken part in some triathlons and half-Ironmans until a back injury in 2017 put those kinds of events on hold for a couple of years.

He started training last November, in preparation for the Lough Ree challenge, and ran his first-ever marathon just three weeks ago.

One of his brothers, Patrick, had originally hoped to join him in the challenge by swimming from Lanesborough to Athlone last Saturday. However, with the closure of gyms and swimming pools he wasn't able to get sufficient training in ahead of the weekend, so his swimming challenge on the lake has been postponed until next year.

As a result, Patrick was part of Michael's support crew on Saturday, shadowing him in the car for the first half of the challenge. Despite the time of year, conditions were less than pleasant. "I was praying for some nice weather on the day, but it was a lot wetter and colder than I was expecting," said Michael.

"At the start of the day, and for most of the day, it was around 7 degrees, with scattered showers. I had a bit of chicken soup when I got to Ballymahon, which was nice, but I then forgot I'd had that, because for the rest of the run I was craving hot food!"

He passed the marathon mark, 42km, just before Lanesborough. After that, things got a lot harder. Pain started to develop in his foot, and he decided to put on a compression sock while stopped for a break in Lanesborough.

The traffic began to get heavier, and Michael was feeling increasingly stressed. "My cousin Ambrose had taken over in the support car behind me but the traffic was getting to me. Everything was getting to me. I was 55km in.

"My brother Patrick had gone home, after putting in a good shift (in the support car), but I had to call him to get a bit of a boost because I was ready to pack it in at that stage."

His family rallied, and when he got close to Knockcroghery his sister Elaine drove by, with his goddaughter Ava and nephew Aaron, to show their support.

His sister Margaret and brother Martin also showed up to give their backing during the closing stages, while another brother, Stephen joined him in running the last 20 kilometres or so.

"It was amazing. I wasn't expecting that, and it was great to get it," he said. "I had a big support crew for that last section, but by that stage my foot had gotten to me so much that it was more like walking than running most of the time.

"At the start of the day, I remember looking at my watch and the kilometres were just rolling by. But in the second half of the day I felt like I was going backwards sometimes!"

Although the run took longer than Michael had hoped, with the breaks and stoppages discounted, he covered the distance in twelve hours and 10 minutes.

"I wasn't overly tired at any point. I did fairly ok in terms of nutrition but because it took longer I was running out of food that I could actually stomach," he said.

The possible stress fracture to his foot means he won't be able to run for the next few weeks. Undeterred by this, Michael now has his sights set on an even tougher challenge.

He is aiming to complete the 'Connemara 100' - a 100 mile, or 160km - ultra-marathon which is taking place in three months' time, on August 15 and 16.

* The Facebook page which Michael set up to provide updates is called 'Mike's Ultramarathon Challenge' and his fundraising page can be found here.