Conan raises over £8,000 for charity with run Down to Derry

A Derry man who ran seven marathons in seven days has raised over £8,000 for charity.
CONAN RUNS DOWN TO DERRY. . . .The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Michaela Boyle welcomes marathon runner Conan McCready to the Guildhall on Friday night after his completion of 200 miles of marathon running over seven days and across three counties. Included in photo are family, friends and runners who helped him around the numerous marathons. (Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography)CONAN RUNS DOWN TO DERRY. . . .The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Michaela Boyle welcomes marathon runner Conan McCready to the Guildhall on Friday night after his completion of 200 miles of marathon running over seven days and across three counties. Included in photo are family, friends and runners who helped him around the numerous marathons. (Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography)
CONAN RUNS DOWN TO DERRY. . . .The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Michaela Boyle welcomes marathon runner Conan McCready to the Guildhall on Friday night after his completion of 200 miles of marathon running over seven days and across three counties. Included in photo are family, friends and runners who helped him around the numerous marathons. (Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography)

Conan McCready set himself the mammoth task of running the 200 miles from Newcastle, County Down to Derry to raise money for Epilepsy Action in memory of his uncle Shaun.

Conan’s uncle, who had epilepsy, died six years ago and since then his family have raised almost £40,000 for the charity.

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The mechanical engineer decided to run the 200 miles as a new year’s resolution.

Before setting off on his run, Conan told the ‘Journal’ that he always set himself something big to do each year.

He decided that this year he would do his biggest challenge yet, as he is due to move to the States in the coming weeks.

Conan ran the 200 miles over seven days in seven stages, while raising money Epilepsy Action, which he hopes will be spent on research into the condition.

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The challenge turned out to be a bigger hurdle than Conan had originally anticipated after he was injured.

“I hurt my knee on the second day of the run, so I had to walk most of the third day. I managed to get back on track on the fourth day and ran around 20 miles.”

However, throughout the week Conan had to mix walking and running as a result.

“All in all I would say I ran about 120 miles and walked the rest of it. I got great support when I was out on the road and that really kept me going. I always had my wife Rachel with me, either in a support car or out running with me, but family and friends got involved too. “

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Conan is immensely proud of his achievement, but admits there were highs and lows whilst out on the road.

“It was really tough. I thought that the running would be the biggest achievement when I set off, but it has actually been raising all this money and seeing people come out and support me. I ended up relying on people quite a lot to get me through it. It would have been really difficult otherwise.”

Conan will keep the fundraising pages open for another two weeks, but so far he has raised £8,800.

“I am just so proud because I had set myself a target of £5,000 and had reached that on the second day. This charity is so important to my family and it means so much to be able to raise this money for them.”

When Conan arrived back in Derry he was greeted by family, friends and the Mayor Colr. Michaela Boyle at a reception in the Guildhall.

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