Bishop looking to avoid repeat of Dublin Marathon 'pub' collapse

A senior cleric is hoping to avoid a repeat of his post marathon collapse in a pub when the KBC Dublin City Marathon takes place this coming Sunday.

The Bishop of Killaloe, Fintan Monahan collapsed in O’Donoghue’s pub on Merrion Row in Dublin last year after completing the marathon and was rushed to hospital by ambulance.

Undaunted, Bishop Monahan is back competing again next Sunday where he will be one of 84 participants - including 12 first timers - running for the Clare Crusaders’ Childrens’ Clinic charity in the marathon where a record 22,500 are due to take part.

Speaking at a ‘send-off’ breakfast for the runners hosted by Allen Flynn’s Old Ground Hotel in Ennis, Bishop Monahan said: “I hadn’t drank enough during the race and I will be much more sensible in hydrating this time around.”

He said:

“I think I must be the only person ever to be carried out of a pub suffering from de-hydration."

"To my embarrassment, pub management called an ambulance and I ended up spending eight hours at St James's Hospital.”

The Crusaders' Clinic provides a range of therapies for free to around 450 special needs children where a number have Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome.

This year is the 15th year that Clare Crusader marathon runners will be on the line where the marathon is the clinic’s most significant annual fund-raiser.

The clinic - which receives no State funding - requires €250,000 each year to keep the operation going.

The service was established by local parents of children with disabilities and since 2005 when 30 marathon runners participated, around 400 runners in total have raised more than €700,000 for the clinic over the past 14 marathons.

Sunday’s marathon is expected to €9m for charities around the country.

Bishop Monahan said: “There are so many other fundraisers but the people of Clare have really taken the Clare Crusaders Clinic into their hearts because they see the benefit of where the money is going.”

Dublin native, Rachel MacManus’s daughter, Annie has cerebral palsy and receives physiotherapy and play-therapy at the clinic based in Barefield outside Ennis.

The mother of three said: “You couldn’t put a price on the value we attach to the service we receive from the Clare Crusaders. It is a unique service - there is nowhere in the country that offers a service like this because we looked.”

Annie is a 1st class pupil at the local Knockanean NS and Rachel said: “If you want to access physiotherapy privately you are talking at least €70 a week and if you want to access neuro-paediatric physiotherapy, you are talking €110 to €140 a week.

She said: “We are accessing physio every week with the Crusaders’ Clinic for Annie and we don’t have to pay for that and that is extraordinary. We are hugely aware of that.

“They have an extraordinary team there at the Clinic. We have found it to be amazing.”

Director of the Clinic and veteran of five Dublin City Marathons for the Clinic, Ann Norton said that if the clinic wasn’t there the children receiving therapies “wouldn’t have the ability to do what they do today”.

Seven people are employed at the clinic and Ms Norton said: “We are very lucky that people see the benefit of the clinic and continue to support it."

Ms Norton’s own daughter, Nicole (22), who has cerebral palsy, has received therapies at the clinic since she was aged seven and now gives back through counselling to parents of children with special needs as part of her college course.

Ms Norton said that the pressures on the service are increasing all the time.

Ms Norton said: “There isn’t a day that we don’t get a phone call from a parent enquiring about the range of therapies we offer.”

Kilkenny man, Pat Bogue has run every marathon since 2007 in the orange Crusader colours. He said: “It is great that we are able to raise money for the children and at the same time meet great people and stay fit while being part of the running group.”