Local support sought for father and baby son’s mega marathon
Richard Marles plans to run a marathon over the course of a week - and just to add to the challenge, he’ll do so while pushing his 11-week-old son Matthew in a buggy!
A native of Yorkshire in the north of England, Richard is married to Elizabeth (Libby) Hayes from Athlone.
Richard works for Keogh’s Crisps and his decision to embark on the fundraiser came about through his employer. Tom Keogh, the managing director of Keogh’s Crisps, is married to a nurse (Eimear) and the company has been to the fore in raising funds for frontline workers in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.
For every €25 people donate, they are sent a ‘Ireland Thanks You’ t-shirt, with Keogh’s Crisps funding the purchase of the t-shirt. At the time of writing, about €70,000 has been raised by Keogh’s through their campaign.
‘Ireland Thanks You’ is a not-for-profit initiative that aims to raise €500,000 to give 5,000 ‘Thank You’ gift vouchers (of €100 each) to Ireland’s healthcare heroes for all they have done for the country during the pandemic. All of the funds raised go directly to healthcare workers, with absolutely nothing being taken by the voluntary fundraising team.
“People within the company have also started to do their own thing to raise money,” Richard told the Westmeath Independent.
As for Richard’s individual efforts, he hopes to raise €1,000 but he’s optimistic that if the people of Athlone and surrounding areas get behind him, he could exceed this figure. Whatever Richard raises will be added to the overall figure, with every €1,000 raised enabling the purchase of ten €100 One For All vouchers.
Richard’s venture has been given the title Matthew Marles’ Mega Marathon. It’s a joint effort between the father and son duo, but Richard jokes that his baby son has the “easy end of the stick”.
Richard started the maraton on Satuday and to complete the 42km distance (26.2 miles) over six or seven days.
The family of his wife Libby is well known in the Athlone area. Libby’s parents Seamus and Dympna Hayes used to run Musicworld in Golden Island, and her brother Anthony is a former soccer player and is now a coach based in England.
Libby and Richard live in Sutton, Dublin but in recent weeks they have been staying in Ballykeeran. Richard, the marketing manager at Keogh’s Farm, is working remotely in Ballykeeran, although he commutes a couple of times a week to the company’s base in north Co. Dublin.
Libby works as a Human Resources Manager with AIG, but is on maternity leave at present, following the recent birth of the couple’s first child.
Richard has been doing his training in loops close to his current Ballykeeran base on the roads around Cornamagh, Garnafailagh and Coosan. And it will be on these local roads that Richard will tackle his marathon, starting from next Saturday.
The Yorkshire native is not a total stranger to marathons, having completed the Manchester marathon in 2013, but he insists that his fitness levels are not as high now as they were then. And it hardly needs to be added that he has precious little experience of running while pushing a buggy containing a baby!
Richard would be grateful for any support the people of Athlone and further afield can provide. In order to donate, log on to the following GoFundMe link: gf.me/u/x3ia6m
Alternatively, search for Matthew Marles on the GoFundMe website. In addition, more information can be seen via www.irelandthanksyou.ie