County Derry men run to raise awareness of mental health

Two County Derry men ran over 100 miles in November to raise awareness for men's mental health and money for Prostate Cancer UK. 

Francis O'Hagan, a Counsellor in Magherafelt and Garvagh and regionally with Belfast Trust, and his colleague Harry Miller took on the challenge together. 

The two men see the reality of the mental health crisis on a daily basis in their jobs. When November came around they felt a need to contribute to the popular 'Movember' trend. 

“We were talking about what we can do for Movember and obviously as a starting point it was growing moustaches and beards just looking at what we can do to raise some awareness around suicide and men's mental health ,”Francis said.

“We had a conversation at the beginning of the month about aiming for 100 kilometres and we thought we could do it so we opted for 100 miles instead because we thought that would be a bit more challenging." 

Both men surpassed the 100 mile goal with Francis hitting 200 kilometres.

Francis believes there is a crisis in men's health with ‘too many men dying too young, through physical health issues, mental health issues, addiction and suicide’ 

Last year men 176 men died by suicide in Northern Ireland according to the latest statistics from Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Meanwhile Prostate Cancer UK says more than 250 men die every year from prostate cancer in Northern Ireland. 

Over 12,000 men are living with prostate cancer and around 1,000 receive a diagnosis every year according to the charity. 

“We wanted to send a message out to men across the country: 'Please speak out and ask for help',” Francis said. 

“We would encourage any man who is suffering to make an appointment with their GP and discuss the range of options that are available to support them through whatever it is that they are facing. 

“Outside of practice hours you can access help 24/7, 365 days a year, through services like the Samaritans, Lifeline and Silverline as well as through the GP out of hours service and A&E in a physical or mental health emergency,” he added. 

Francis says it can be difficult to see that our suffering is temporary in times of struggle but believes the maxim ‘this too shall pass’ is true. 

He says seeking support will significantly shorten the duration of a crisis. Both Francis and Harry have young families and busy schedules, making it difficult to fit a run in every day. 

“It was definitely difficult at times. In my work I could be working any of the seven days or nights in a week and I've got a young family as well. Harry as a young child also. 

“Between most of the other commitments most of my runs would have been around 9pm or so whenever I could just find the space.” 

Most of his runs were around 5k with the longest being 25k –that's 4 kilometres over a half marathon. 

“I think two days was the longest stretch when I hadn't run. You're always conscious that you have to keep going because if you haven't been running for a couple of days the average distance is going to increase slightly,”he said.

The shared goal meant both men were able to support and push each other to achieve it –a fitting allegory for the Movember movement. 

The support may have even developed into healthy competition – though never explicitly Francis laughed. 

“Maybe subtly, I guess the fact that we were both doing it meant we were able to keep an eye on each other and make sure we were keeping up with each other." 

Francis said the support for the challenge surpassed his expectations. 

“It was brilliant, it was great in every sense. It was very enjoyable to do and it was great to discover that capacity in myself. 

“In October I had done the most distance I had ever run in one month and I doubled that in November so that side of it felt great and then in terms of the response from my colleagues and the local community with the donations was just fantastic. 

“We had that target of raising £300 for Prostate Cancer UK and the total at the minute is sitting over £900,” Francis said. 

Though the challenge is over Francis wasted no time getting back running, completing a 5k on 1 December. 

“The legs are feeling good now. Throughout the month I had a bit of trouble with my right foot. I was running on a slight injury all month and obviously didn't have time to take off and allow it to properly recover.”

“I'm sure I'll get rest this month but it's good to keep running and in terms of the theme of mental health generally for me personally it's a great way of taking care of yourself and keeping yourself well.” 

The fundraiser is still open at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/francis-o-hagan2.