Long-distance charitable exercise is blowin' in the Windy City

ATHLETICS: The Great Garda Run, now in its second year, has chosen the Chicago marathon as a means of raising over €250,000 for the Marie Keating Foundation

THE NEW Bob Dylan album is released on Monday – his 47th in all, by my calculations – and this time he has managed to confound both his fans and his critics. Indeed, this is no ordinary Dylan album: Christmas in the Heartis not only his first collection of seasonal hymns and carols, and arrives a full 76 days before Santa does, but Dylan is also donating all the royalties to charity. So, depending on where you buy it, the money goes to one of three organisations that feed the hungry: Feeding America, Britain-based Crisis and the United Nations' World Food Program.

I got a sneak preview during the week, and among the standout tracks is Do You Hear What I Hear?Wait until you hear it. The delivery is both sharp and sentimental, even though he doesn't quite pull off that last note.

Also included are such chestnuts as The Little Drummer Boyand Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, plus Dylan goes all the way back to Adeste Fideles, singing the first verse in his finest Hibbing, Minnesota-accented Latin. Venite, adoremus! I kid you not. Better yet, there's a video on the way for Must Be Santa, shot somewhere in East LA.

All of which raises the question: did Dylan record Christmas in the Heartto help feed the hungry, or to give himself a reason to sing along to Winter Wonderland? There is a difference, and it's a big one. The album may serve a function, but what exactly is the purpose? Or indeed the point?

That’s the problem with a lot of charitable endeavours; the real motivation is not always entirely clear and sometimes the original intention gets left behind, rather than leading the way. Truth is, some people end up putting themselves before their tax-deductible charity organisation, and the more improbable their effort the better.

At least when it comes to marathon running things are a little more certain. No one runs 26 miles and 385 yards for fun. Or, if they do, good luck to them. The motivation has to come from within, but if you are going to go the distance then you might as well give it some added purpose – which explains why marathon running continues to raise more money for charity than any other event, sporting, musical or otherwise.

At the end of this month, a record field of 12,500 will take part in the 30th edition of the Dublin marathon, and yet again a large majority of those will be running for some special cause. This year look out for Garret Doherty, who plans to run backwards – as in facing the wrong way. “Retro running”, as he calls it, is apparently widely practised in China, where Xu Zhenjun is credited as running the fastest reverse marathon, an impressive three hours 43 minutes. Doherty has a more moderate target of around five hours, and, as you would expect, he also has a secondary motivation: to raise sponsorship for Paralympic Cycling Ireland. You could, of course, argue he should be raising money to treat his mental health.

There are some marathon-running efforts that you just can’t argue with. Tomorrow, one of the biggest charitable endeavours in marathon history will happen in Chicago, involving 150 of our fittest and finest gardaí. The Great Garda Run, now in its second year, has chosen the Chicago marathon as a means of raising over €250,000 for the Marie Keating Foundation, which tackles cancer awareness and detection. Evidently, this is the largest single police force team of any country to compete in the same marathon, and, judging by their preparations, they should all go the distance. They’ve been trained by Eamonn Coghlan, and although over half are running their first marathon, confidence is high. They are a force to be reckoned with.

The idea has come a long way since two years ago when a small group of gardaí based at Harcourt Square in Dublin figured that with a force of 16,000 they should really be doing a little more for charity. Partly inspired by the Great North Run series in England, they came up with the Great Garda Run, and made their debut in last year’s Paris marathon. They got 85 recruits, and raised €115,000 for Goal.

Such was the success they decided to go bigger and better in 2009. Coghlan, who is an old friend of Chicago marathon organiser Carey Pinkowski, helped secure the 150 entries, and Ronan Keating, who helped found the charity in memory of his mother, also signed up to run. The 150 places quickly filled, and to help promote the event, Niall Featherstone, an inspector at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park, was nominated as press spokesman.

“The whole idea has really mushroomed since last year,” says Featherstone, who is, in fact, running his sixth marathon in Chicago. “This year we canvassed all the Garda stations, and decided we would do something for cancer, which of course touches us all. That’s why we decided on the Marie Keating Foundation. It’s already become the biggest Garda fund-raiser, the largest amount of money we’ve ever raised. And we’re very confident will surpass the €250,000. The money is flying in.”

The team includes Det Brian Murray, a 1992 All-Ireland football winner with Donegal, and former schools international Joe Robinson, who is targeting a sub-2:30.

Insp Featherstone is typical of the Garda team. He came from a background of Gaelic football, playing first with Kilmacud Crokes. Yet in more recent years running became a more convenient pursuit, and by the sound of things he’s now addicted, like so many others: “I’m based in the Phoenix Park, and the amount of people out running these days is incredible. So in ways this is another reflection of this, that gardaí are no different in getting into the running boom.

“But what is important about this event is that every garda is covering their own cost, from flights to accommodation to race entry. So every cent goes to the foundation. Every garda was asked to raise €1,500, by any means possible, and people have been very generous.

“From day one we also wanted to leave some sort of legacy from the run, something tangible. So we’ve agreed to purchase a mobile testing unit, put that on the road, and staff it, for two years, from next year. It can screen 500 people a week, all over the country, men and women. Hopefully that will go some way towards the early detection of cancer.”

You can’t argue with that. Not that you’d argue with a garda. For more information and how to donate, see www.greatgardarun.com.