AN ANDERSONSTOWN man is looking for running partners to help him complete a personal challenge – running the equivalent distance from Ireland to Palestine.

Colum Delaney, who now lives in Craigavon, said he was spurred on to start the 2,562-mile challenge after feeling powerless watching the unfolding horror in Gaza, and wanted to take part in a challenge which could help raise money for medical supplies for Palestinians.

Colum said: “With what’s happening in Palestine and Gaza I came up with a bit of a madcap idea of running the equivalent of the distance between Ireland and Gaza, it’s 2,562 miles.

"I saw people out there organising 5k runs for Gaza and I wanted to see if I could take it to the extreme. It’s been a lot of hard work because I’m not even actually a runner.

Colum said he is looking for people to come out and run alongside him as he will be accumulating the miles others run onto his own to complete the challenge. 

He said: “It’s a massive challenge but if people want to come out and run with me then I’ll accumulate their miles onto my own. 

“I’ve already raised a good bit of money for it, it was over £2,370 last time I checked but I’m also hoping to get people to also come out and run with me.

"So far I’ve been getting groups to come out and run with me and last week I had a boxing club from Craigavon and there were 11 of us out running and we accumulated 46 miles between us.

“I’m about 400 miles in and this has taken four weeks and I’ve been out running every single day either by myself or with other people. However, it is a bit of a struggle at the moment trying to get the miles done in time so I wanted to see if there would be any people from Belfast or the Andersonstown area where I’m originally from who wanted to come out and run with me and hopefully donate as well."

Colum said he will be running in West Belfast tonight, Monday, and added that if anyone wished to get involved to contact him.

“I’m out on Monday night in Andersonstown running with a group of runners leaving from The Devenish. It would be great to do some runs with some people from West Belfast as I’ve done runs with people in Craigavon, Down and Derry so far," he said.

“One of the reasons I wanted to start this is because so many people are runners these days and also from speaking to a lot of people – they just feel so powerless to do anything about what’s happening in Gaza and I think going for a run and knowing the money raised will be going to get medical supplies is something that we can do and also can give people a bit of hope.”

If you would like to donate to Colum’s GoFundMe page click here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/run-for-palestinian-people-medical-aid

Or if you wish to run with Colum and add to the milage, please phone 07712044282 or email columdelaney@yahoo.com