A LOCAL family will run the Belfast marathon to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) in memory of their late uncle.

The McDermott family will take on the challenge in honour of their uncle Liam McDermott who passed away from motor neurone disease in 2019.

Barry McDermott, from Finaghy Road North, will run the entire marathon alongside his brother Shaun and cousin Ciaran. 

A further 12 family members will run the marathon relay challenge, entering as two teams of six.

Explaining the initiative, Barry said: "Liam would've been the one person in our family who would've been really athletic and done marathons, triathlons, iron men challenges. He also would've been the healthy eater, he didn't drink much, so there was always a 'do what your uncle Liam does' sort of thing. We held him up as this super healthy and super fit person that you could aspire to be, but then unfortunately he got motor neurone disease.

"He contracted it around May 2018 and passed away in February 2019, so he went downhill fairly quickly. During that period the Motor Neurone Disease Association were very helpful and did a lot for the family, so we've decided to raise money for the charity and to 'be more Liam' as my sister keeps hash-tagging."

Barry and Shaun had previously taken part in the 'Run from the Crum' challenge, running 78 miles from Crumlin Road Gaol to Dromore, raising an incredible £3,000 for MNDA.

This year's fundraising effort will see the McDermott family host a takeover of Colin Glen Parkrun on 26 March to raise funds and awareness for the charity. 

"We've also arranged a draw and we've got loads of different prizes to try to raise some additional funds," Barry said.

"Previously we've just put up a JustGiving page and asked people to donate, but we felt we had to do something different this time.

"We're doing different wee bonus ball draws and charity draws so people aren't just handing you money. We knew that we needed to take a different approach to encourage people to give because we know there are other charities and other concerns out there."