ON December 12, Ballycasey’s Wynona Grant will be undertaking a massive challenge, all for youth mental health charity Jigsaw.
At 5am that morning Wynona will begin a 12-hour run, continuing until 5pm that evening, with only minimal stops for bathroom breaks and to refuel. It’s a massive challenge for the 27-year-old, who works in digital marketing and has just qualified as a personal trainer and running coach.
Running for 12 hours would be impossible even for many very fit people and it’s clear that Wynona is in fantastic shape, although she only really started running seriously a few years ago.
“I kind of got into it about two and a half years ago, so not that long in the grand scheme of things. As a kid I would have exercised a lot, I played camogie and football for Wolfe Tones and soccer for Bunratty FC and stuff like that, but like a lot of people when I went to secondary school I fell out of it.
“I didn’t get back into it until about three years ago now, and just loved it and found I just loved running, which I never thought I’d get into.
“I started working out in a gym up here and then decided that as a job personal training would probably suit me a lot better than the average desk job.
“I’m kind of making a slow transition into it, I only graduated during Covid so it’s hard to know how to get into it in these times, but hopefully.”
On December 12 all of the running will be done within a relatively short distance from her home. “I’ll be setting off on a 10km loop from my apartment. Obviously I don’t want to go too far because I’m going to need food breaks, bathroom breaks that kind of thing. It will loop back by my apartment every 10k, which I expect to do in about an hour starting out and I’m sure I’ll get slower as it goes on!
“I have a lot of people who have shown interest in joining for a half hour or an hour or whatever it is on the day. People have their own personal challenges, someone might want to do their first half marathon or first 5k and they’re going to achieve it on that day.
“We’re just going to run as slow as people want and get all these things ticked off. I have a crew of people who’ll be based at my apartment and my food will be ready, they’ll bring it to the gate and that kind of thing.”
In total she estimates that only a cumulative total of one hour of the 12 will not be spent running. “It’ll be 12 hours elapsed time, 5am to 5pm and the moving time I think will be about 11 hours, there will be the odd break for the bathroom or to eat something or get some fluids in.”
While she has no distance goal, she expects she will cover around 100km. significantly more than the lemgth of two marathons.
December 12 actually won’t be the hardest part, she says, with the hardest of the work having been done by then. “The day itself will probably be the easiest part of it, the training these weeks while I’m trying to slow my pace down and stay out for five or six hours, then there’s the expense of physio every week, all these things that happen behind the scenes.”
Jigsaw exists to promote positive mental health among young people age between 12 and 25. Wynona feels it’s a very worthy beneficiary of her efforts, while she says that the act of running is often one of the best things that young people can do for their own mental wellbeing. “Every charity has suffered massively this year and young people feel it just as bad and it’s important they have somewhere to turn to as well.
“Jigsaw focus on the mental health of young people and they’re an Irish charity as well. A lot of the smaller charities can be overlooked. There are a lot of bigger charities that do fantastic work, but sometimes people overlook the smaller ones.
“Also, while running is really good for your physical health, it’s also incredible for your mental health. I know so many people who never thought they’d enjoy running, but they get into it and they realise it’s not even about the physical benefits, it’s about the mental side.
“This year, just to get out for a 30 minute run has helped a lot of people and I hope this 12 hour run will help bring people out for the day.”
People can contact Wyonona on Instagram to make a donation @wynonagrant, or donate at www.idonate.ie/the12hourrun
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.