'My Dad got me around the first half, then I just let fly'

“My Dad got me around to the end of the first half of the marathon, then I just let fly,” James Gillivan said at the end of his fundraiser in Dublin on Sunday.

Speaking shortly after he had completed the Dublin Marathon, James looked and sounded good considering he ran run from Athlone in three days, to make the start of the big event on Sunday morning.

His four-day endurance challenge, RUN4MND, was to raise funds for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA), in honour of his father, Andy Gillivan, who lost his battle with motor neurone disease (MND) earlier this year.

James, or Jimi, had started on Thursday morning, and had large numbers of wellwishers as he ran the Old Rail Trail Greenway, passing through Moate and stopping at Mullingar and Enfield, and going as far as Croke Park on Saturday.

He didn’t have a lot of time to rest, as he ran the marathon distances on the first three days in around four hours, but he didn’t need it, as he ran the official Dublin Marathon in 3:35.

The times weren’t the important thing, Jimi said: “The last four days have been about two things; the money for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, and my Dad.”

By Sunday afternoon, the total he and his supporters had raised for the IMNDA was approximately €40,000, and the fundraiser remains open till November 2.

Jimi said: “I’d like to say big thanks to everyone who’s donated, big, small, it doesn’t matter. It’s been amazing and I can tell you that money, a fantastic sum, is going to support the Motor Neurone Disease Association, to help people get the special care that my Dad got.

“Your donations are going to an amazing cause.

“Secondly, I have to thank the team of people that were behind me, people who ran with me, people who cycled with me, people who came out in different towns and supported me. This is a day I’ll never, ever forget. It was amazing.”

Jimi had special thanks for Ian Allen, who did graphic design, and Niall Mackey, “who’s done an amazing job with social media”.

“I don’t know what portion of the €40,000 I can put down to him, but I can tell you it’s a fair size of it. So, Niall, I can’t thank him enough.

“Then, there’s my brothers, sisters and my mam, and my wife, Orla and the girls, Lil and Iris. They they’ve given up everything for the last couple of weeks to organise this for me.

“And we got the €40,000 mark – it’s a great tribute to my Dad. So, thanks to everyone.”

For more on James’s journey, to join along the route or to donate to RUN4MND, see idonate.ie or contact the IMNDA imnda.ie.