Consistency and commitment epitomise how Cormac Ó Muirithe and James O Donnell ran 5km everyday of November in aid of Men’s Mental Health Month. The Mayo men are blown away by the support they’ve received and together have raised an astonishing amount of money for MindSpace Mayo. Read more here ……
Last month, Cormac Ó Muirithe and James O Donnell set themselves a goal to raise money for MindSpace Mayo. Cormac explains why himself and James wanted to raise money for a vital organisation: “we both had family and friends recently who have struggled with mental health, that’s where the motivation came from”. They had originally planned on participating in Movember but James had the idea to give something different a go! “There were six of us who were going to do Movember. Then James said we should do something different like running 5k a day”, says Cormac.
Cormac adds, “stupidly I said I would do the 5k with him because he’s a lot fitter than me, I thought ‘Oh I’ll be grand’ but I hadn't ran since I was 18. That’s where the 5k a day came from. It ended up just being me and [James] who were doing it”.
MindSpace Mayo is a charity close to their hearts. James tells us, “for choosing our charity, there were thousands to choose from, we chose MindSpace Mayo because they have facilities that our friends used like counselling. They set up a new branch in our hometown in Erris, Belmullet so they agreed to put all the money that we raised into the Belmullet branch”.
The lads were truly blown away by the immense amount of support they received throughout their journey. James says that; “the support has been unreal. All of our mates have been reposting all our stories. Family and friends have been supporting us and coming on the runs with us.” He adds, “the days I’m up here doing it by myself is twice as hard whereas if I’m doing it with [Cormac] or one of the lads in the house, it makes it so much easier. There’s been loads of lads coming on runs with us”.
MindSpace Mayo cares about young people’s mental health. It’s designed for people aged 15-25. MindSpace Mayo is a free service that provides a welcoming and non-judgmental space. Helping over 4,000 young people, MindSpace Mayo is a safe place for everyone to go and escape from suffering. The charity helps individuals suffering from stress, anxiety, relationship concerns or if you don’t feel like yourself anymore. If you are interested to learn more about the services provided by MindSpace Mayo, visit their website here!
James and Cormac never gave up on their goal, despite some days the circumstances weren’t ideal. James admits, “You have to get on with it. It was day 18, we were in the house and I was saying to Cormac ‘we’ve been very lucky with the weather we haven’t had one bad day’ and I think it was day 19 that we were running on the track and it was pure ice”. James continues by saying that day “there was a snowman in the middle of the track. I think that was the worst day because there was nowhere you could run”.
This challenge has not only raised vital funds for a wonderful charity but it has also improved James and Cormac’s mental health: “One day we did Coldvember and we ran down to Salthill. We did the 5k in the morning and then Coldvember. It was me, James and Dave in our house and I’d say we were never as mentally clear. We were never in as good form as we were that day”, Cormac says.
Along with improved mental health, the lads have found their running and physicality has also improved. When Cormac agreed to join James running 5km a day, he admitted that he hadn’t run since he was 18. Cormac says, “I did the first day by myself because [James] went back home and I had to take like four breaks and I thought I wouldn’t be able to do 5k without stopping. It was torture it took me like 30 minutes”.
A week went by and Cormac started to see huge improvements within his running: “after a week I could finally do a 5k without stopping which was good then I got down to 25 minutes after that. I did it in 23 [minutes] one day but [James] is still 4 minutes faster than me. It's embarrassing. We’ll run on the track and he’ll lap me once and I know that if I let him lap me again that means I'll have a bad time”.
James and Cormac have received massive support since the beginning. The lads set up a Go Fund Me page, on October 31st 2024, where people could donate money that would go towards MindSpace Mayo. James explains how quick the donations flew in: “we originally set our goal when we made our go fund me and we set it as 500 euro. At the time we thought it was a longshot. I think after 24 hours we were over 700 euro. It was over a grand in two days”.
James was pleasantly surprised by the mountains of support they’ve gotten: “It’s such a good cause because so many people struggle with their mental health and it's huge to see the amount of support it has gotten. That's the biggest surprise I think”. James adds that his “old secondary school in Belmullet and his old secondary school did a non uniform day for us”.
When we spoke to the lads at the end of November they had raised €3,200 and they were hoping to make it €4,000. Fast forward to today James and Cormac have raised an incredible €4,905. This money will go to MindSpace Mayo’s Belmullet branch.
What an inspiring thing to do for such a great cause. The lads combined ran 300km during the month of November. Their Go Fund Me page is still open and if you would like to donate you can do so here. Huge congratulations to James and Cormac on this mighty achievement!
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