'We've done it!' Seamus and Stephen raise over £10,000 for local charities!

After 30 days and over 480 miles behind them, Seamus Crossan and Stephen Quigley raced home in the rain to complete an incredible 30-in-30-day challenge in which they raised over £10,000 for two local charities.

A half marathon a day for 23 days was topped off with a marathon a day for the remaining week of September, ensuring that the duo, both a part of STAR Running Club, exceeded all expectations over the course of a remarkable month. The two were supported all the way, not just with well wishes and publicity, but with runners by their sides, making the r=tremendous feat all the more manageable.

“We never thought that it would have gone the way it did with people coming out,” Seamus admitted afterwards. “We thought we would have just done it ourselves for the whole month. It did seem to escalate. We were chatting during lunch on our last day and even Stephen said he didn’t expect it to reach these heights. We never knew there would be so much buzz about it.

“Other people out with us had their own milestones. We had people coming out who hadn’t run for months, but came out and built from a 5k to a 10k; we had someone who had retired from half marathons, but they ended up doing 18 miles one day and then registered for the Dublin marathon; another guy had a mental block getting over 13.1 miles but he ended up doing 18 miles two days of the week with us.

“Even seeing that side of things, it got to the stage where it wasn’t just about me and Stephen. There were people getting off the couch and back onto the road.

“On the last day, when we reflected on it, we had maybe 12 miles over the whole of the month that it was just me and Stephen together; we always had someone beside us at some point.”

As the first Walled City Marathon back in 2015 was the first the two completed together, Seamus and Stephen opted to run that route on the final day of their challenge; with the addendum that they would finish at the Gasyard Centre. That meant a 27-mile course on day 30, but helping them over the line was a Foyle Search and Rescue escort on the home straight into the Gasyard where they were cheered home by a big crowd of supporters.

Seamus admits that last week was the toughest of the lot.

“Once the body started to hurt,” he explained. “I think we got through the first two days fine, but then we started to feel the aches and pains. I wanted to get to day five, and there were aches and pains but nothing to stop me running, but on the second last day we ran from Derry to Buncrana and back again. I don’t know if it was going up and down on the kerbs, but I started to feel pain in my ankle and I struggled with that, but once we got to the last day it was adrenaline took over and got us through it. The last day was our fasted day, and that was probably the fact that we just wanted to get to the finish line.”

Target reached

From the first step to the last, the aim was to raise money for the Foyle Search & Rescue and the Danny Quigley Fund as part of Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum. The aim was £10,000 which was reached and surpassed in the final few days much to the duo’s delight.

“Derry people, like they always do, came together and donated to us and once we seen that, going up in increments each day, it gave us that extra wee boost to keep us going towards the end,” he said. “That’s what pushed us at the end as we got closer and closer to the target. We have got over what we initially set out for and that will go to two great causes that do a lot for the people in the town.”