Paul Doherty runs non-stop to complete gruelling ‘Inishowen 100’ for Pieta House

Before there was a Wild Atlantic Way, there was the Inishowen 100 - a tourist route connecting the peninsula’s most scenic spots.

It typically takes half a day to drive the route. Earlier this month, Carndonagh man Paul Doherty (Mullier) ran it to raise funds for Pieta House, the suicide prevention charity.

As it turns out, the Inishowen 100 is 105.5 miles long, and Paul completed it in 25 hours, 1 minute and 1 second - without any sleep and with only an occasional five- or ten-minute break when nature called.

He left the Diamond in Carndonagh at teatime on Friday, 9 May, and set off anti-clockwise around the peninsula. His run coincided with Pieta’s well-known fundraiser and by the time darkness turned into light, Paul had already passed Ballyliffin, Buncrana, Burnfoot and Muff. Just after Moville, he paused briefly as the sun rose over the horizon at the dawning of the day.

By then, he had already run more than 60 miles, farther than any ultramarathon he’d ever completed, but the toughest - and hilliest - 40 miles still lay ahead. Speaking to the Inishowen Independent a week later, Paul said his body was still recovering.

“I knew this would be a lot harder than anything I’d run before, and it certainly was.

“There was no sleeping,” he continued, describing his 25-hour, 105-mile circumnavigation of Inishowen. “I took little breaks here and there - just enough time to go to the toilet, take on liquids, and fuel up.”

Fuel included drinks, buns, sweets, fruit, energy gels, and electrolytes - anything to keep him going mile after mile.

Read More: How Paul Mullier planned his non-stop Inishowen 100 trek

Now based in Hampshire, England, Paul left Gorteyarn in Carndonagh in his late teens and has been living across the water since 2008. He got into ultramarathons and eventually began toying with the idea of running the Inishowen 100.

Organising something like that from afar isn’t easy, but he had help. He first spoke with gardaí Sean McDaid and Michelle Kelly. Eamon McDaid (Halfway) provided a camper van, and his crew - Eamon Doherty, Joe McElhinney and Liam Doherty - ensured Paul had everything he needed as he pounded the peninsula’s roads.

He expected solitude. What he got instead was overwhelming solidarity and support.

“I don’t get home to Carn as much as I’d like,” he admitted. “But I’ll say this - if you’re ever doing something at home and you need help, well I’ve never experienced anything like it.

“The support I got was remarkable.

“People came out of their houses, out of bars and restaurants, to wave and cheer me on. It was overwhelming, to be honest, and I’m still getting quite emotional about it.

“I thought it was going to be a lonely, quiet run on rural roads - and it was anything but.”

Paul had meticulously planned the route. He ran the first three miles from Carn to Ballyliffin alone, but after that, the community became his running partners.

“My crew were with me, and groups of people joined from time to time - doing a few kilometres here and there. People of all ages got involved. Young families, people in their 60s and 70s. It was magical.”

The company helped, but physically, the run took a serious toll - especially once the sun rose after Moville and the final stretch began.

“None of it was easy, but the last 40 miles, starting in the hills near Kinnego Bay, were the hardest,” he recalls with a grimace. “Hills, hills, hills - they really took it out of me.

“When it comes to hills, you’ve little option but to walk up them - and coming down isn’t easy either.”

The Gap of Mamore, tackled just 17 miles in, was brutal. But the relatively flat section from Buncrana to Moville via Burnfoot and Muff offered some relief. After that - from Greencastle to Kinnego Bay, then on to Culdaff and Malin Head - those last 40 miles were torturous.

When he got back to the Diamond at the end, Paul had been awake for nearly 40 hours straight.

“My knees and ankles were swollen for days and I’ve lost a few toenails,” he said. “It’s not normal activity, and your body does feel the effects.”

Thankfully, he had support: a loyal crew, some spare trainers to change into and simple comforts.

“I got great help from my crew, from those who provided transport, and from the gardaí. Without the camper van and those guys, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

A nurse friend checked him over that Saturday night.

“She took my heart rate and blood pressure and they were perfect,” he laughed. “But my legs took a serious thrashing.”

READ MORE - Darkness Into Light in Donegal

The public response has been every bit as astonishing as the run itself. His iDonate page has already passed €17,000, with several thousand more raised in bucket collections during the event. He has far exceeded his target - and is incredibly grateful.

“I wasn’t expecting it. I really wasn’t,” he said of the outpouring of support. “I knew I had some people lined up, but what actually happened was beyond anything I could have imagined.

“It was the kindness of everyone I met that truly left a mark.”

Donations to Paul’s fundraiser remain open until the end of June. Click HERE for details