Festive runs to take place in Limerick to raise funds for little Oisín, 4

WHILE many of us will do a little exercise to burn the Christmas calories, few will undertake a challenge quite like four Limerick men next week!

Friends Paddy O'Callaghan, Brian O'Donovan, Tony Hoare and Joe McNamara, also known as the Resilient Running Crew will run four miles every four hours across two days between Wednesday, December 28 and Friday, December 30 in the city.

Codenamed ‘4x4x48’, the challenge is all in a good cause, with the experienced runners raising money to support four-year-old Oisin Traynor (pictured) who suffers from quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

Having been born at just 25 weeks weighing only 950g, little Oisin has astounded doctors in his short life, having developed a number of life-threatening medical conditions due to the trauma involved in his birth.

Father-of-two Paddy, who lives in the Old Cork Road, is related to the Traynor family on his mother’s side, and first learnt of the youngster’s plight at a the funeral of his cousin Alec O’Mahony, who died in Dublin on the morning of this year’s All-Ireland senior hurling final.

It was after this, he was inspired to want to raise money to help the Armagh lad live a normal life.

Paddy and his friends have raised lots of money for local good causes in the past few years, having run 100km in August 2021 for Limerick Suicide Watch and the Saoirse addiction treatment centre before that.

“We like challenging ourselves. But I know on day two of this 4x4x48, I’ll be telling the lads: if you ever hear me coming up with something like this again, someone hit me on the head with a hammer to make me cop onto myself,” he laughed.

Donate to Patrick’s run by clicking here, or you can telephone him on 083-8741626.

Paddy described Oisin, and his parents Shanine and Mark as “inspirational people”.

The pair have set up a page online called Opening Oisin’s Opportunities.

“It’s not really about fundraising for them, it’s about informing people and connecting with other people who might have the same predicament, but might not have the know-how to be like Shanine is,” he added.