A WEST Belfast man has raised nearly £5,500 for a mental health charity after completing four marathons on four consecutive days.
Christopher Wilkinson took part in the Donegal Quadrathon last month to raise money for West Wellbeing, who have recently been forced to reduce their vital services by 60 per cent due to funding cuts. Reflecting on the ultra challenge, where he was hit with “every type of Donegal weather”, Chris – who works for SAG Credit Union in Andersonstown – said the ultimate goal of raising money for such a worthwhile charity helped him through the eight months of training and those four gruelling days of pounding the roads of Donegal.
“The first run started from Moville up the Inishowen Peninsula to Malin, that was the first day,” said Chris. “The second day was up around Malin Head and back to Malin Town; the third was from Malin down to Buncrana and the third was from Buncrana across the peninsula again up through the Redcastle and back to Moville.
“There were 30-40 people doing the full marathons and that was called the Warrior and then there were people doing half marathons, so you would have got to a point when you were trucking on and doing your full marathon and then half-marathoners who were as fresh as a daisy were bombing past you. There were also ones out walking it too. It’s a big event down there and all the locals know about it and there’s a real sense of camaraderie and when you’re running past they give you a beep and a wave which kind of keeps you going.”
Having run several marathons in the past Chris said he was looking out for an ultra event to take part in when he came across the Quadrathon challenge.
“I was wanting to raise money for a worthwhile charity, so to raise money and to get people to dig a little bit deeper I wanted to do something that little bit extra and I just stumbled upon the Quadrathon challenge and I love the Inishowen Peninsula so I thought this was the chance to do something special with all that scenery. When I started looking at my dates and my training and where I was eight months out from the event, I thought this gives me enough time to knuckle down and get the miles in to build towards it."
Chris during the Donegal challenge
Chris actually used the Belfast and Waterford marathons as preparation for his ultimate challenge.
“I was getting a lot of advice from ultra marathon runners. One fella who ran from Malin Head to Mizen Head – the length of the island – which he did over three days – a phenomenal run – he told me it was all about injury management. He said that if you got a small blister on the first day it may not sound like an issue but by the second or third day if you haven’t done enough to manage that, it can turn into a big issue and you could end up not finishing. Just simple measures like that which on the face of it aren’t too complicated that will allow you to keep going into the second, third and fourth day.”
And were there ever times when he thought of giving up during the four day challenge?
“Every ten minutes or so,” he laughed. “I finished the first marathon which looking back was the hardest day. There was a real steep part of it where you go up and then come down and the views are stunning, but on the first day there was 26 degrees weather so we were absolutely slaughtered all the way down from the elite to the walkers, to the half marathoners – we were all gasping. So on the face of it that was the toughest day – plus throw in the hills – but when I got that over me, you’re sitting in that night refuelling with carbs and thinking in the back of your head, I’ve only done one marathon and my body feels broken here, how are you going to get up and do the second one? But honestly after getting up on that second, third and fourth day, after half an hour of moving around everything starts loosening and next you’re on the starting line and then after about a mile or two your body starts to fall in to this adoptive strict mode and you’re off again. On the fifth day my girlfriend who was with me in Donegal asked me if I could run another one and I said, yeah I could if I had too.”
Chris says that the last day of the four-day challenge, Moville was packed with people and he had family down cheering him on.
“The last couple of miles were kind of emotional, eight months of training were all culminating in those last couple of miles and I was just thinking of the Guinness and the seafood. The first and the third day were definitely the hardest, and the second and third day Donegal threw every kind of Donegal weather at us and as for Christy Moore’s The Hills of Donegal he doesn’t sugar-coat them, they are tough.
Chris with Eleanor
“I have to give a lot of credit to my partner Eleanor who came down with me to Donegal. She was maybe driving a mile or two ahead of me and then running back and meeting me on the route and then running beside me and then if I needed water, food, hydration she was there. She was amazing. She chronicled the four days as I was running them. She’s a Toome woman and there was so much interest up there and she was posting videos and the interest just kind of sky-rocketed and the money started to roll in and I couldn’t believe it, so I have to give her so much credit.”
Chris’ exploits raised nearly £5,500 for West Wellbeing.
“I was completely overwhelmed with the amount raised,” said Chris. "Here at SAG we’re involved with West Wellbeing. This city is living through an epidemic of mental health and suicide and I don’t think there hasn’t been a single person in some respect who hasn’t been touched, whether directly or indirectly, whether it’s a family or friend, and I know they rely so much on funding and just seeing the great work that they do in the community it was a no-brainer really.
“When I was approaching this event, because I had chosen West Wellbeing, people were so generous. Friends of mine and my brother and his girlfriend ran a fundraiser in McEnaney's, for example. I couldn’t believe the people who turned up and we had people donating from meat parcels to gym memberships. Everybody about the road as soon as they heard what we were doing they were so quick to give and the generosity was just so overwhelming.
“I can’t thank people enough and I would encourage anybody else out there who are looking to back a worthwhile cause in the future to consider West Wellbeing because they do such worthwhile work.”
Chris raised over £5,000 for West Wellbeing
