Kennelly to run New York marathon

Tadhg Kennelly and his Sydney Swans team-mate Jared Crouch are to run the New York Marathon in November to help raise awareness about heart disease.

Both Kennelly's father and grandfather died of heart attacks and the former Kerry underage star has set himself a fundraising target of AUS$100,000. The proceeds will go to the Heart Foundation in Australia.

"Doing this means a lot to me," said Kennelly, who returned to action for Sydney last weekend after his recovery from a dislocated knee.

"I don't know if it's a good idea (doing the marathon), but we'll find out on November 4."

Kennelly's dad Tim, the legendary Kerry defender, ran a marathon at the age of 44 but he sadly passed away in December 2005, aged just 51.

Kennelly said: "The Heart Foundation means a lot to me as heart disease has affected my life in a big way.

"I lost my grandfather about 18 years ago due to a heart attack but little was I to know the impact it was going to have on the rest of my life - my dad also passed away from a heart attack, eighteen months ago.

"My dad actually ran the Dublin marathon about ten years ago so it is going to be a great challenge personally, and I just want to get the awareness out there of the Heart Foundation for my dad."

Tadhg is confident about finishing the Big Apple run, but unsure about predicting his finishing time.

"I'll finish it - there's no doubt about that. Running 15 to 20 kilometres a game gives you the aerobic capacity and it's not as if we'll get tackled - although it is New York.

"The longest run I've done is 10k which we used to do pre-season but not any more," admitted the 25-year-old.

"That was five or six years ago and now we don't run much further than about 3km."

Kennelly is still wearing a knee brace to help ease the swelling after his comeback game against Port Adelaide last weekend, but he is expected to be fit for this Sunday's Premiership clash with the Western Bulldogs.