Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last night, I attended the Irish sports awards, where we were told how sport is worth €3.3 billion to the Irish economy annually. However, this morning, we learned how sport is actually invaluable. Those of us listening to RTÉ radio sport on “Morning Ireland” earlier will have learned of the world record-breaking exploits of an Irish man, and more importantly a Navan man, Keith Russell, who was competing in the gruelling Race of Champions Backyard Masters in Germany. This race began last Saturday and runners had to cover 6.7 km every single hour since last Saturday. Keith had competed last year and ran 63 laps but, by last night, he and his opponent from Germany, when there were only the two of them left in the race, had both broken the world record of 85 laps as they set into a fourth night of running. In the early hours of this morning, while we were in bed, his race came to an end at 89 laps after covering 597 km in a time of 66 hours, 14 minutes and 22 seconds. This is an epic event and it is by invitation only. Keith had smashed the Irish record in County Down last June and had been invited to this world championships.

I know Keith personally. He started running only in 2016 for his daughter Alanna, who had cerebral palsy, and he ran the 2017 Dublin marathon pushing Alanna in her special running chair. Sadly, Alanna has passed since then but Keith has maintained his dedication to her memory and to fundraising for children like Alanna as well. He described himself to RTÉ last year as just a runner, just an average person. I think he is far from average. Ireland, and more importantly Navan, is very proud of Keith.