Two Cork athletes to run 350km across seven cities in aid of Irish Cancer Society

Runners Liam Dineen and Alan Minihane will run 50km a day for seven days across seven cities, raising funds for cancer research

Sat, 13 Sep, 2025 - 01:05

Niamh Griffin

Two Cork athletes will run 50km a day for seven days, across seven cities, to raise money for cancer research.

The ultra marathon challenge will begin in New York on Monday and end back in Cork a week later.

Each city was picked because of the vital cancer research breakthroughs in each of those locations. The running duo intend to take on the challenge in New York, Boston, London, Paris, Barcelona, Dublin, and Cork.

Liam Dineen, from Douglas, and Alan Minihane, from Bishopstown, work in Barcelona where they have been training through the hot summer.

“It’s feeling more ambitious with every day it comes closer,” Liam said. Each 50km is equal to an ultramarathon, with a total of 350km over the 7 days.

“We’ve been training away so hopefully it will be alright,” Liam said, stoically.

They are inviting other runners to join them, even just for a few kilometres, and to wear yellow t-shirts for the Irish Cancer Society.

We’ve been blown away by the support. It has been an avalanche in the last week, people have been reaching out to us, asking if they can run with us.

Each route follows a 10km loop, which they will run five times.

“It might be a little more boring for us but it hopefully will make it more accessible for somebody who wants to come along. They would know we will be at a certain point five times during the run,” he said.

The Cork route starts 9am on next Sunday (Sept 21) at the Marina Market in the city.

“We have inadvertently planned for that the same day as the mini-marathon,” he said. “It will be grand, we will run around to avoid that.

There will be loads of people running for charity in that, and ultimately that’s what we are trying to do. We want to have our own community in Cork come out and make a day of it, really.

So, anyone with energy after the Cork Echo Women's Mini Marathon could join or run with them in the morning to warm up.

The plan came from wanting the challenge of running and organising an event as well as a keen interest in promoting cancer research. They are partnering with the Irish Cancer Society with all profits going to the charity. Their target is €77,777 for now.

It is estimated one in two people will experience cancer over a lifetime.

The biggest challenge for Liam and Alan, aside from the running, will be sleep and recovery during the trans-Atlantic flight.

“That will be overnight, so that’s where we hope to sleep,” Liam said. “The best case scenario is we get six hours sleep, we arrive in London and we run.”

That same day, they take the Eurostar train to Paris. "That’s the biggest day.”

A huge amount of planning and logistical support was needed.

Liam expressed thanks to all their sponsors, especially Folor Construction New York and O’ Brien’s café in Mahon Point.