RUN: Friends Eamonn Sheehy and John Cronin plan to run a marathon in June to raise funds for the Kenyan Education Project.

By Michelle Crean

Two Killarney lads are set to take on a marathon challenge this June Bank Holiday weekend to raise money for the Kenya Education Project.

Friends Eamonn Sheehy and John Cronin, who took up running together 10 years ago, plan to run 42k around Killarney to raise much needed funds for the project which has been hit hard by COVID in the past 12 months.

They set up their GoFundMe: 'Marathon fundraiser for Kenya' four days ago and have already raised over €300 of their €500 target.

Eamonn is son of Eddie Sheehy who set up the Killarney based charity in 2003.

He and John became friends during their time in The Sem and John explained that they took up running to get fit.

"We run together because we weren't very good at football and to keep the weight off," John told the Killarney Advertiser. "We plan to run the marathon around the Demense, Ross Castle, out to Muckross House and back again."

Every year since the charity was set up volunteers from Killarney and beyond have travelled to Embul-Bul village South of Nairobi to work in the primary and secondary schools, the feeding programme and to help out with the soccer academy that was set up with the help of the project.

"We have been exceptionally lucky to have been supported by the local people of Killarney and beyond since 2003 with donations that go straight to the people in the village," Eamonn said.

"Every year children are sponsored in school and have their fees, uniform and books paid for with donations from Killarney people. The students are also fed every day in the school. Over one hundred children are also fed in the feeding programme on a daily basis also. This year our fundraising events have been curtailed due to COVID-19 but we have continued to receive donations too from people and we are extremely grateful to everyone who has donated."

He added that the Kenya Education Project has been sending out €500 a month to Embul-Bul to pay for food parcels which are distributed to the families of the students in Brother Besaung School.

"The aim of the marathon is to raise enough money to cover the cost of the food parcels for a month and hopefully make some form of a difference to the lives of the people in Embul-Bul."