Manager of Snap Fitness 24/7, at Sligo Retail Park, Carraroe, Jeanette Brandsborg is doing the charity walk on September 15 starting from the Phoenix Park in Dublin at 12pm, and from there will be walking along the Royal Canal to Longford and from there to Sligo via the N4.
“This will be with no sleep and only very small breaks for toilet and food. Most food will be eaten on the go.
“The plan is to arrive at Snap Fitness between 9am – 11am on September 17 and later that day meet up in the Swagman for the after party.
“The walk is in aid of mental health and is being run in conjunction with Pieta House.
She added: “People can walk the whole way or just part of it and it is up to each person how far they want to walk.”
“The walk is being in conjunction with Pieta House and we have a Go Fund Me Page up and running.
“It will be up on our Instagram and Facebook Pages and our website and Pieta House are going to put it up on their website as well.
“People can donate in that way or they can come into our gym and donate directly.”
There will be between eight to ten walkers setting off from Dublin and they will be joined by three more who will be walking from Longford and they will be joined by a group of bartenders when they get into county Sligo who will walk the final leg with them.
“It is around 200 kilometres from Dublin to Sligo and we will be supplying the food ourselves with sandwiches and water and a cup of tea and then keep on walking.”
The walk from Dublin is quite gruelling, but Danish native Jeanette has had pretty good preparation for the marathon walk.
Jeanette had originally planned to organise the walk last year when she was working in a hotel but when it came closer to the date she could not get enough volunteers.
“So when I came to the Fitness gym I asked some of our regulars and we are now in a position to do it.”
Jeanette continued: “I have run a few marathons, the Dublin City Marathon in 2018 and Galway and New York in 2019 and I did Berlin in 2022.
“I have been here over ten years and I love Sligo and it is a beautiful place.
“I have been running for many years and Snap Fitness suits me fine.
“This has never been done before by any of us and we all did the Warriors Run at the weekend which is good training for the walk and I either walk of cycle to training, but none of us has ever walked that long before so it is a new challenge but one we are all looking forward to.”
She added: “Exercise is a great means of coping with mental health issues and a lot of people have been struggling with those issues, especially after Covid.”
