After a challenging 2023, a Rathfriland man is fulfilling a promise to his father by raising money for his chosen charity by running five consecutive 5ks in five countries… in one day!
When Johnny Kernaghan’s father took ill – spending around three months in hospital on two separate occasions – he made a promise to raise money for a charity of his choosing.
Thankfully his father – also named John – made a full recovery and he chose the Southern Area Hospice for the “compassionate and dignified care” with which they had looked after John’s own father in his final days.
John’s wife – Johnny’s mother – also worked for the Hospice for five years so as a family they have a profound appreciation for all they do.
And, as Johnny says: “It’s one of those things. You don’t need to know me to sponsor this. The Hospice is there for everyone to use.”
So grateful was he to be able to fulfil his promise, Johnny couldn’t take any half measures. The idea to run five 5k routes across the British Isles in a 24 hour period came to Johnny during a bit of quiet downtime.
Speaking to Armagh I, he explained: “To be honest, I have been doing a bit of running over the last six months or so and I was on holiday and it just came into my head – how about running around the British Isles?
“I don’t think it’s ever been done and if it has it hasn’t been recorded officially. I thought, ‘I wonder could you do that in a day’ and I went onto my phone and started to research ferries etc.
“The plan is to get the boat at 2.15am from Dublin to Holyhead so we will have to do a 5k in Dublin before that. We will probably leave home at about 10.30pm on Saturday night to be ready for midnight to run a 5k in Dublin, then straight over the port and get the ferry to Wales.”
The ‘we’ Johnny refers to is a quartet. He will be joined by two of his Moneyslane FC teammates, Jonny Pierce and Michael Ferguson, and their manager, Matthew Jackson.
Once on Welsh soil the four will travel up through Wales, settling on a suitable 5k route as they go. They will then journey on to England where they will complete the next before moving on to Scotland to take on their penultimate run.
After an estimated 579 miles – broken down between 463 miles of driving and 116 miles at sea – and approximately six hours of driving between the four of them – they will make their final ferry journey from Cairnryan to Larne.
Their final 5k will be completed “somewhere close to home” hopefully between 8.30pm and 9pm.
Johnny says the entire trip – including travel and fuel costs – will be self-funded.
“Every single penny of donations will be going to the Hospice,” he said.
You can make a donation to Johnny’s ‘5km in 5 countries in 1 Day!’ GoFundMe page here.
