‘There is hope!’

A charity worker taking on the Cork City Marathon barefoot has said he will overcome any pain barrier by focusing on those who need his help the most.

Pat McMahon, founder of Cork-based charity Mothers First, is hoping to raise €5,000 in support of a critical birthing clinic in Somaliland, east Africa, for malnourished pregnant women.

This Sunday, Pat will run the gruelling 42km route through Cork city and, having previously completed three barefoot marathons, said he reckons Cork will be his toughest one yet.

“Cork is going to really test me,” said Pat who is a qualified nurse.

“I've done two in Dublin and one in Rome but they're all very flat; Cork is not flat. A lot of it has got to do with technique. There's a running technique where you don't pound the ground; you run more lightly.

“The last five kilometres are just... it's very tough,” he added.

Pat is taking on the marathon barefoot as a kind of “pilgrimage” to raise awareness around the struggles faced by those in the poorest parts of the word.

“It's trying to highlight the real inequalities that we are facing in the world,” explained Pat.

“It creates a contradiction of all that we have in the West and how people in other parts of the world are just really struggling.

“It's a stance against that and that's what pushes you over the line.

“There is hope and if everybody gives a little bit we can actually make peoples’ lives better,” he added.

Pat’s daunting fundraising effort aims to equip the recently built birthing clinic in Somaliland with essential infrastructure including medical beds, a toilet, running water, solar panels, and birthing kits.

The funds will also provide one year's salary for a local traditional midwife.

The African community Pat is helping recently relocated from a slum area on private land to an area 20 miles from the nearest city where each family was given ten square metres of land with no running water or electricity.

Up until the birthing facility was built, they were delivering babies in small tents with no facilities, Pat told the Cork Independent.

Pat founded Mothers First over 20 years ago after witnessing firsthand the struggles faced by those living in the slums of Varanasi, northern India. Since then, the charity’s main work has been in India helping malnourished pregnant women. To help Pat reach his goal of €5,000, donate at mothersfirstcharity.org/mothers-first-for-birthing-clinic.

The stories behind the race

While many see the Cork City Marathon purely as an athletic event, many others are running for more personal reasons.

This year a group of 10 close friends will run the Cork City Half Marathon in memory of their friend Ned Ryan who died of brain cancer in 2024 aged just 23.

In honour of his life and to raise money for Beaumont Hospital in Dublin which played a crucial role in Ned's care during his illness, the group of friends has set up a GoFundMe page, ‘Half Marathon in Honour of Ned Ryan’, which has already raised almost €25,000.

“Ned was an incredible person – funny, kind, and full of life,” the group wrote on the page.

“His loss has left a deep void in all of our lives, and we will always cherish the memories we made together,” they wrote.

To make a donation to Beaumont Hospital, visit gofundme.com/f/half-marathon-in-honour-of-ned-ryan.

Also taking part in the marathon are family members of the late Cork jockey Michael O’Sullivan who died in February after falling during a race at Thurles. His brother Alan and cousin David will take on the Cork City Marathon to raise funds for Brú Columbanus, the charity that gave them comfort and support after Micheal’s death. So far, they have already raised over €45,000.

His brother Alan said: “We’ll always carry the sadness of losing Michael, but we’re so grateful we were able to be near him. Brú gave us the space to be a family when it mattered most. Running this marathon is our way of saying thank you.”

To donate to the fundraiser, visit idonate.ie/fundraiser/MichaelOSullivanFamily.

The 2025 Cork City Marathon takes place this Sunday. The full marathon starts at 8.15am from St Patrick’s Street. The half marathon starts at 10.15am from Monahan Road. The 10k race starts at 8.45am from St Patrick’s Street.