ATHLETICS:Former member of The Saw Doctors Johnny Donnelly has run 37 marathons in the first 24 months of his four-year goal in aid of his chosen charity, Sea Change, writes IAN O'RIORDAN

EVER SINCE Bob Dylan famously interrupted his 1985 Live Aid performance to ask the crowd if some of the money raised might go to the poor American farmers, the line between charity beginning at home or away has, for me, always seemed a little blurred. “The American farmers might be starving,” Bob Geldof replied. “But the Africans are starving to death.”

We may be on the verge of a hideous national bankruptcy, but I don’t know anybody who can’t afford at least one meal a day. Truth is, no matter how bad things get in this part of the world, things will always be a whole lot worse in the Third World. That’s not saying there aren’t some thoroughly worthy and important charitable causes at home, particularly when it comes to sickness and disease.

Still, the biggest contributing force to these causes, by some distance, is running. I’m not entirely sure why that is. They say charity covers a multitude of sins – and indeed so does running. If you want to suffer for your cause then running is the perfect match, too.

Either way, both have become a competitive business. It used to be that running a local 10k would bring huge praise and a hefty donation. Or it could be a mass-participation event, such as the women’s mini marathon. Then it had to be a full marathon, preferably is some far off place like New York.

These days, if you want to bring some real attention to the charity of your choice – and raise some real funds – you better run something exceptional. Such as several marathons, back-to-back, across several countries – or better still, across several continents.

It’s not much good just running 26.2 miles anymore. You might raise some money – but it’s no way of saying you really care about the charity. It’s hardly suffering for your cause either, is it? Eddie Izzard is a good example. Last summer he took off, Forrest Gump-style, and ran all over England, Scotland and Wales, covering a marathon a day, six days a week, for seven weeks straight. Not bad for a stand-up comic – and he raised an incredible €1.3 million for Sport Relief. That money was evenly split between causes at home and away – and no one can doubt Eddie must have cared a lot about what he was running for.

This summer, Gerry Duffy and Ken Whitelaw, both from Mullingar, have set themselves the challenge of running 32 marathons, in 32 days, in each of the 32 counties. Naturally, they’re not doing it for the goodness of their health. It’s all for Irish Autism Action, with additional donations to the Irish Cancer Society, and these are thoroughly worthy and important causes that begin and end at home. They’re also looking for 32 runners to join them in each marathon. (See www.32marathons.com).

Two years ago, I met Johnny Donnelly, the former drummer with The Saw Doctors, who told me of his plans to run a marathon a month, in some very far-off places, for the next four years. “Run Johnny Run”, he was calling it, a simple yet profound cause: running to help end extreme poverty. The charity of his choice, Sea Change, engage in micro-finance, the process of giving small loans to help lift people out of poverty in the long-term. This, he explained, was something he truly believed could make a difference to the lives of others.

I wasn’t so sure; not that he didn’t believe in his cause, or that he could make a difference, but if he really could run a marathon a month for the next four years.

It was with some embarrassment I met Johnny again this week, to talk about the half-way point of his odyssey. Not only has he run a marathon a month for the past two years, he has sometimes run two or three marathons a month. He listed some of them – Cape Town, New York, Prague, Dubai, Budapest, Singapore and Athens. He has actually run 37 marathons in the first 24 months – and has as many planned for the next 24 months. The embarrassing part was, I had talked about joining him on a marathon or two somewhere along the way. What was my excuse? Never mind.

Johnny is too modest to have suspected my shortcomings. Besides, he had other things to worry about. After I spoke with him, on Thursday, he caught a plane to London, and on to Morocco, where tomorrow he will begin marathon number 38: the world-famous Marathon des Sables. This, as some people might know, is no ordinary marathon, but in fact a 151-mile run across the Sahara, spread over six days, and some nights, and every runner has to carry all their food, cooking and camping supplies. Midday temperatures will hit 490C. They don’t call it “the toughest footrace in the world” for nothing.

“This is the last place on the planet I want to be going,” Johnny told me, and he meant that too. “But when I started this, two years ago, it was about maximising the challenge for me, so as to maximise the exposure for the charity. It’s no good running marathons like London, or New York, every month.

“It’s all about the charity, and as painful as I’m finding the physical act of running – and more so, the pain of being away from home – I have to go through these bigger challenges, because running ordinary marathons every few weeks does become just a routine.

“I know this is a killer. People have actually died on this. And it is the biggest challenge of the lot. I’m starting out with images of Mickey Mouse in my head, and I know half an hour in, I’ll be making Stephen King movies.

“I left the band because I didn’t want to be away from my family. This will be longest time away from the family since leaving the band. And the longest run of the challenge.

“But I believe in the tipping point: if enough people do get involved, then change will happen. I’m a tiny cog, on a massive wheel, but I want to do my bit to make that wheel turn. I made a promise in my own mind, for the people in Haiti, and Kenya, and Africa. I visualise the end of the chain. People might say ‘don’t be stupid, that’s ridiculous’. But that’s what charities do. Sea Change or Goal or Concern or whoever.

“It’s hard for some of us to realise the good work they do. But when you see it happen for real, it stays with you. That’s why my passion is a high as ever. I’m on a journey, and I’ll finish it no matter what.”

In January, on marathon number 35, in Israel, along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he came the closest yet to not finishing. He was suffering from every runner’s nightmare – the trots – and had to stop, bundled over with cramp, as early as mile three. He ran behind a large rock to relieve himself, and emerged to find several locals bundled over in laughter. It turned out that was supposedly the same rock where Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. There was no way he couldn’t finish after that.

No matter how bad things get, there will always be others a whole lot worse off.

Two years down, two years to go, Johnny Donnelly hasn’t once lost sight of that.

See www.runjohnnyrun.ie