Local walkers complete marathon after training during lockdown

(Above) Brege McCarrick, left, and Geraldine Egan.

No one will accuse friends Brege McCarrick and Geraldine Egan of not being productive during lockdown.

The duo spent the last few months training to walk a marathon and last Saturday, June 6, and they achieved their ambition in the very impressive time of seven and a half hours.

In the process, they also raised more than €2,000 (and counting) for the youth mental health charity Walk in My Shoes.

“We were fortunate that a couple of our friends knew that we were doing it,” Brege told the Westmeath Examiner.

“My son brought us lunch, another friend dropped by with chocolate and another friend brought us water and bananas, so it was an easy marathon. We had our mobile caterers.”

Brege and Geraldine’s 26-mile walk started and ended at the Dublin Bridge and included stretches along the Royal Canal, its feeder canal to Lough Owel and the greenway.

Experienced walkers, they used the increased amount of free time during the coronavirus crisis to realise long-held ambitions to train to walk a marathon.

“On the day of Darkness Into Light we went out that morning to do 5k and ended up doing 15k. Then two weeks later we did 21k, then 28k and 34k,” Breege said.

They set off the Dublin Bridge last Saturday and after months of unseasonably high temperatures, the weather gods smiled on them.

“It was probably the coldest and windiest day we had in months, and it was ideal for walking.

“If we’d had the heat of the previous weekend, we would probably have had to postpone it. It would have been too hot.

“It’s a beautiful time of the year to do it along the canal. The swans are on it, the trees are fantastic and the bird song has been amazing,” Brege said.

With plenty of miles in their legs and the training done, last Saturday’s marathon didn’t take a lot out of Brege and Geraldine. In fact, Brege went out and played nine holes of golf the following day.

When asked if their first marathon would be their last, Brege said that they enjoyed it so much that she might be tempted to complete another one.

You can’t keep a good woman down, as they say.

If you would like to donate to their fundraiser for Walk in My Shoes go their Go Fund Me page www.gofundme.com/f/covid-walking-marathon.