Sunday 1sty April was a day for heroes and inspiration in the village of Rhode as local man Niall Murphy ran two and a half marathons in one day to raise funds for Irish Autism Action. Hundreds of people lined the street and hundreds joined the forty year old PRO of Offaly GAA’s county board as he completed the ’100km for €100k for Autism’ on Offaly roads, starting at 8am as the frost cleared, and finishing after 7pm, as the evening sun went down. Niall Murphy has a son, Ryan, who has autism so each lap he ran represented the a year of living with autism.
But a delighted Niall took no credit for his incredible feat, preferring instead to heap praise on his community. Niall said “The support for this event has been overwhelming, the village of Rhode and surrounding areas have come out in force to help raise funds for a charity that is close to my heart”. Niall described the 7th lap of his run as the most difficult as the heat was starting to overcome him and he no longer could take on any food or energy drink. At the end of this lap he went in changed his gear and drank a cup of coffee before setting back out on his 8th lap. Despite feeling the soreness in his legs the inspirational crowds both in the village and around the course were the tonic to help him complete the challenge. Niall is indebted to everybody who took part at so many different stages throughout the day, some people even doing two, three and four laps of the course. Approximately 1,000 did the 10K lap over the course of the day as the people then gathered to the finish line to see Niall finish at 19.10pm a total of 10hrs 55minutes after beginning at Rhode GAA pitch at 8.15am that morning. There were great scenes of elation and joy as Niall had finally completed his challenge.
Every €1 helps. Find us on facebook www.facebook.com/groups/100kfor100k or e-mail niall@autismireland.ie
To sponsor Niall for his amazing achievement go here.
