Tara Malone has completed an incredible feat of endurance, running six marathons in six days in six different countries. The Enniskillen runner, along with fellow runners Darren Hamilton and Paul Floyd, took on the challenge to raise money for MacMillan Cancer, and in a gruelling week covered 26 mile routes in England, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man, as well as Dublin and Belfast. Tara admits there were feelings of elation and relief when they reached the finish line of the sixth marathon at Belfast City Hall.

“It was an absolutely fantastic feeling,” she admitted. “We just felt lucky every day that we had the will and the ability to do it. There were other people finishing with us and people waiting for us at the finish line and several of my running club came up to support me as well as my family and the boys families, and people from Macmillan Cancer. It was a feeling of euphoria. There was a great sense of relief as well that we could have a wee rest!” The trio were all experienced marathon runners and were keen to test themselves, and when Darren came up with idea the others were glad to accept the challenge.

“Darren, Paul and myself knew each other through the running and we always have wanted to do something a little more challenging and raise money at the same time,” said Tara. “We wanted to do something a little different and Darren phoned on New Year’s Day and said ‘six marathons, six countries, six days’. We knew how good Macmillan Cancer are and we have had personal experience with them, so that was how it came about. We wanted to challenge ourselves physically and mentally and raise some money.” The first task was to decide on the marathon routes, and they decided to use previous marathon courses to ensure there was no doubt about the mileage. The Edinburgh marathon and two laps of the North Wales half marathon were among the routes covered, and when they came back to Ireland they completed their challenge with a marathon course through Phoenix Park in Dublin before ending in Belfast. The trio were able to help each other through the challenge, and despite weary bodies they never doubted that they would reach the finish line.

“There wasn’t really any time when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do it and the two boys were the same,” she said. “I was looking forward to the challenge every day. When we had done two marathons in two days, which was something we hadn’t done before, it was motivating us to keep going. We were very confident we would complete it. Our goal was to do the six runs in as close to four hours as we could, and we did them all in under four hours, and the last two were our quickest two. We seemed to get a bit stronger as we kept running. When we got to the third and fourth marathons our bodies were starting to get a bit weary. Day one and day two was pretty good but by day three the legs were starting to feel it a bit. We got into a rhythm though and we seemed to get stronger as the week went on. Although our legs were maybe getting a bit more tired, our heart and lungs were stronger. We felt a lot stronger physically which was very strange because we thought we would feel the opposite. We said we would all stay together and that worked out well. We are all very similar in our marathon times and there would only be a couple of minutes between what we have done competitively so it was not too bad to run at a slower pace for the six days to make sure we completed them.” The stamina needed for six marathons in six days does not come easily however, and Tara admits the training regime they had to endure was very intense. “The training we put in for six months was mental,” she said. “We were running a lot of miles every week but it all paid off. I would have run six days a week and at the peak of my training I was running up to 110 miles in the six days. There were a lot of times I was doing two runs a day, one in the morning and one at night, and then two long back to back runs on a Saturday and a Sunday. It was totally different from normal marathon training where you are training for speed and you do one long run a week. We had to train more for endurance to get your body used to running on tired legs and muscles and it definitely paid off.” Having to travel between six countries also took its toll, with the long journeys between locations doing nothing to help their recuperation. “Maybe the hardest thing was the travelling,” Tara admitted. “Quite often we would be on a bus for a few hours and you would find you would be quite stiff. That was tiring because we wouldn’t get to our next destination until quite late at night and it was straight to bed, and then up again at half six to do the next marathon starting at eight. We always wanted to start at eight o’clock. The weather was really good so we wanted to get them done early so we weren’t caught in the really hot sun which would have been even more challenging.” Despite pushing their bodies to the limit, Tara, Darren and Paul are keen for more adventure. “It made us think that there are other things that we could maybe do,” admitted Tara. “For the rest of the year we have a couple of marathons and we are going to get back into running competitively, but next year we will probably come up with something else to do, although it will probably always be running because that is what we love doing.” Their efforts have been rewarded with thousands of pounds for their charity, and Tara has been delighted with the support they have received. “We are really grateful to everybody who sponsored us,” she said. “I’m not sure how much money we have raised exactly but at a rough guess at the moment I think it’s about £7000 to £8000 and if anyone still wants to donate to help us raise our target, the page is still open. Our target was £10000 and even if we don’t reach that we will not be far off it.” Anyone wishing to donate can access their webpage on www.justgiving.com/6marathons6countries6days