Bernie to mark brother’s memory with half-marathon

IF Bernie McGuire’s legs won’t co-operate with urgent messages tumbling towards them on Saturday week, memories of her late brother Patrick will inspire the Mullagh girl in her 13-mile trek around North Clare.

Twenty years ago, Patrick died from a brain haemorrhage. He was just 13-months-old, while Bernie was three. Patrick would have been 21 this year and having returned from New Zealand, Bernie was keen to mark his memory.
So on September 25, she will compete in the Cliffs of Moher half-marathon, with every cent collected donated to the Irish Kidney Association and the Galway-based Strange Boat Donor Foundation.
Although Bernie was very young when Patrick passed away, she tenderly clutches to life-long memories of her late brother.
“I can remember the day of the funeral, going up on the front window and opening the curtains. The coffin was going past and they were pulling me down off the window,” Bernie, who is a PE teacher, recalled.
“I have an older brother and an older sister. There’s six years between me and my sister so they grew up together and me and Baby Patrick would have grown up together.
“I can remember playing inside the cot as well. I can’t remember an awful lot but they’re just two memories that I can remember,” she reflected.
Bernie’s parents, Maureen and Patrick, donated their son’s organs, which is another motivation as she pounds the Mullagh running track, preparing for Saturday week.
“When I was in college in Tralee we had to present a project for the rest of the class, so I did it on organ donation. So much came out of it. An awful lot of friends my age didn’t know anything about organ donation. They didn’t realise that your organs have to be kept alive. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to help promote the whole area of organ donation,” Bernie explained.
Although people might not want to dwell on the prospect of sudden death, Bernie feels that it is the only way of ensuring a regular supply of organ donations.
“When it happens, you don’t think about it. But even just to have a talk at home with your family and to make them aware ‘I would like my organs to be donated’,” she suggested.
Like roughly 400,000 people, Bernie doesn’t have a full-time job at the moment and running the half-marathon has taken her mind off her lack of employment.
“Since I came home six weeks ago, I can’t believe how big the recession has hit. Before I went to New Zealand last September it was bad but since I’ve come home, it’s a lot worse. Some of my friends that would have been total big spenders have all moved back in home,” she noted.
“That’s the other thing as well; it’s important to get out and do something. I see people that are just doing nothing at the minute and they’re going off the head.
“So since I’ve been home, being unemployed and everything, I wanted to get out and do something active and stop sitting inside every day,” Bernie added.
As well as training for the half-marathon, Bernie runs a meet and train group for women in Mullagh on Thursdays and is due to start a similar group for unemployed men at Lees Road shortly.
Growing up, she ran with Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare AC, under the tutelage of James Sexton. So while cross country running was Bernie’s main forte, a 13 mile road run won’t faze her.
“Everyone is telling me it’s a hard run and mostly uphill. It’s starting at Doolin Pier, up by the Cliffs of Moher and ending up in Lahinch,” she said, noting that she ran seven miles in an hour at Mullagh track recently.
“I’m thinking the other seven are the hardest. Hopefully, I’ll be able for it but if I’m not, I can always walk. But hopefully I won’t have to. It’d kill me because I do have a very competitive side,” Bernie laughed.
She can’t get over the support emanating from her friends at home and down under.
“The response I’ve been getting from my friends in Australia and New Zealand is huge. They’ve been really, really supportive.”
Preparing for the half-marathon has also persuaded Bernie that staying at home, when everyone else is out, has to be done. Although she doesn’t think that staying in on Saturday night week, after the run, will be achievable.
“We’ll have a good night that night,” she predicted very confidently.
Still, there is no avoiding her real motivation for taking to the hills of North Clare. Bernie doesn’t want to let her brother’s 21st go unmarked and is very keen to encourage more people to consider organ donation.
“You’re still thinking about Patrick but you’re doing some good, hopefully. The other thing I want to do is promote how important organ donation is,” Bernie reiterated, hoping that if she does meet a wall on Saturday week, Patrick will help her beyond it.
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