Seven marathons in seven days across seven counties – that’s the challenge set by a Galway student to raise money for a youth mental health charity

Patrick Harris has just finished his first year of a teaching degree at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick and wanted to bring a focus to his summer while keeping in touch with friends.

So, he decided to set himself the goal of running the marathon distance of 42.2km in places where his friends are based – starting off in Kilkenny on July 30, followed by Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Roscommon, Mayo and then finishing in Galway on 5 August.

“It’s something different rather than doing it all in one place and I’ll be running at least part of it with a friend in each county,” he says.

“It’s nice to be able to work towards something for the summer. I’m training hard, once and sometimes twice a day. I’ve done three marathons – the first one last October – and four half marathons back-to-back last April.

Patrick, 19 and from Knocknacarra, got into running during the Covid lockdown and kept it up three and four times a week.

Caption: Patrick Harris… marathon man.

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