A marathon effort to make a difference to a few lives

ATHLETICS:Mary Hanlon, who is not a runner, is going to attempt her first 26.2-mile trek in Madrid tomorrow. It's all in aid of a small, personal, but exceptional cause

I’VE ALWAYS said the greatest athletic feat I’ve ever witnessed was my accountant running a marathon off zero training.

This was no ordinary marathon either, but 26.2 miles over hilly country roads, in brutal heat, somewhere on the west coast of Jamaica.

We’d gone down there on a tourism junket, the only provision being we showed up for the start of the Reggae Marathon. Then our natural competitive spirit got the better of us, and instead of dropping out around mile two, like any sane person would have, we pressed on without mercy, eventually crossing the finish line in a state of severe confusion.

What were we thinking? At least I was half-fit – but not only had my accountant not run in about three months, he’d spent the previous evening drinking a dozen Red Stripe and smoking two packets of Lucky Strike, before disappearing with two local strangers for the rest of the night.

After that I thought I’d lost all respect for the marathon as the once sacred distance, made famous by Philippides and Spiridon Louis, and made great by Emil Zatopek and Abebe Bikila. After Jamaica I suspected the marathon had become a generic test of endurance, even an achievement fraud – unless, of course, it was run in two-hours-something.

But that’s what happens when you get caught up in the obscene hype of professional sport. There is no room for the humble tale of human endeavour anymore, inspired not by a personal quest for glory, but of a wider and far more worthy cause. And if that still has any role to play in sport, there is no greater platform for it than marathon running.

A few months ago we were having drinks in the Bottler’s Bank in Rathgar when Mary Hanlon announced her plan to run a marathon. She’d never run one before, and wasn’t even sure where she wanted to run it, but she just knew it was something that had to be done if she was serious about her cause.

Mary is not trying to end world poverty or find a cure for cancer. She’s not particularly adventurous or looking for anything too extreme. It’s not even some long-held personal goal of hers. It’s just about raising awareness and maybe even some money for her small but noble cause – and the best way to do that, she reckoned, is to run a marathon.

Two years ago, she was working as a development coordinator with the Volunteer Missionary Movement in western Kenya. One of the places she came across was Bungoma, a mixed community area not far from the Ugandan border, which stretches from Mount Elgon in the north to Lake Victoria in the south, with a population of around 2.2 million people.

Bungoma is not a place of drought or genocide. There is widespread poverty, but by African standards it’s a place of considerable hope. Around Mount Elgon, there is good farming and herding, and around Lake Victoria the fishing is quite good.

These prospects have in fact brought an influx of people into the area, although the only problem with that is the spread of child labour, prostitution and HIV.

The schools where Mary worked were places of great enthusiasm, and inspiration. The only difficulty, naturally, was resources, and it was obvious to Mary how far even small amounts of funding could go. So she decided to sponsor some of the students and their families, paying their school fees and other living expenses – directly into their hands.

Without quite realising it, she began changing not only their lives, but the lives of those around them too. She’s been funding seven students, and one of them, Bonface Okodoi, is in second year at the Kinsumu Institute of Tropical Medicine, training to be a clinical officer. Another, Alexander Kahimba, is in second year at the Kitale Technical Institute, studying to become a quantity surveyor.

Once they qualify they will almost certainly raise their own standards of living, and that of this whole Kenyan community, improving the health and stability of the place on a more permanent basis – and because of that, Mary, single-handedly, founded The Bungoma Project. This is not an aid organisation. It’s not a registered charity. And I’m not being paid to write this.

This is one person who realises there will always be those worse off than us, and it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to make a difference in their lives. And when you start something like that it’s hard to let go, and even harder to stop.

And that’s where the marathon comes in. “I can’t dance and I don’t DJ,” says Mary. “And I don’t bake cakes for the well. But the marathon is out there like a straight line. I just have to get from the start to the finish. I know what’s involved, so I just have to prepare myself to get through it.”

For anyone thinking of running a marathon for a worthy cause, London is usually the first choice. Tomorrow, the 29th edition of the event takes place, and since its inception in 1981 it’s estimated that over €400 million has been raised for various charities as a direct result of those running the 26.2 miles. Three-quarters of those starting tomorrow are running for some cause or another.

Actually, the London marathon holds the world record for the single greatest charitable contribution from a sporting event, the €2.1 million which five-time Olympic rowing gold medallist Steve Redgrave raised in 2006.

Mary’s original plan was to run London, and she asked me to help get her in. Despite a personal call to race director Dave Bedford, I was told there was “no chance” – and he wasn’t exaggerating. This year, London had a record 155,000 applications for the 46,500 starting places, so in fairness we were a little late.

Then Martin Joyce of Sports Travel International got on to me, and suggested Madrid – which also takes place tomorrow. “Why not?” said Mary. “Sure isn’t Madrid as good a place as any?”

I wasn’t so sure. I lived in Madrid for about six months back in 1995, and it’s definitely not the best place in the world to go running. It’s at minor altitude, for a start. It’s also a little hilly. And even by the end of April it can get terribly hot.

Mary, however, was already in training. The Bungoma Project needed a fresh injection of funds and she was going to run that marathon no matter what. So I figured if she was so determined to run Madrid, then the least I could do is run it with her – totally ignoring the fact that I’d been unable to run for the past three months because of a freak surfing accident.

Truth is, the main extent of my preparations has been to stay off the booze for a week, and, on the way to the airport yesterday, by dropping into Runways on Parnell Street, where Shane Connaughton hooked me up with a new pair of Nike Marathoners. When running 26.2 miles, whether for a world record or for charity, it’s always important to look the part.

I don’t know if I’ll be as resilient as my accountant and survive the thing off zero training, so that’s why it’s essential all donations to Mary’s cause, small or otherwise, are made in advance at www.thebungomaproject.com.

“Bungoma is not a place of drought or genocide. There is poverty, but by African standards it’s a place of considerable hope. There is good farming and herding, and around Lake Victoria the fishing is quite good