From small acorns to big fundraisers!!

There has never been a shortage of things to talk about when it comes to Running in the Rebel County. Cork has produced some of Irelands greatest athletes past and present from Olympians like Donie Walsh, Marcus O’Sullivan, Sonia O’Sullivan, Lizzie Lee, Michelle Finn, Aoife Cooke, Darragh McElhinney and Phil Healy to name just a few, the list is endless. Added to that is the never ending array of great races form Bere Island to Charelville, so talk about it is what two Running enthusiast decided to do.

The Runners Diary podcast was originally set up in September 2021 by Brian Ahern a member of the Bweeng Trail Blazers club, it was done to help highlight race results in the Cork area and also upcoming fixtures. After 29 episodes Brian looked to bring more to the show and to the listeners so Damian Kenneally of Eagle AC came on board as a co-host and the show went from 15 min episodes to 60 minutes. Of course the fixtures and results stayed but features like interviews with race winners was introduced to this section. Feature length interviews were then introduced and this changed everything for the podcast, listenership shot up as they interviewed local runners of all abilities, this way listeners got to know the stories behind these runners and what made them fall in love with running so much.

The show has now had 23 episodes in its new format. It has included interviews with Donie Walsh and Mary Sweeney who are Running Royalty in Cork. Episodes with wheelchair competitor Jerry Forde who takes part in his 500th marathon in Malaga next week has also been one of the major highlights. The podcast biggest leadership happenned when they hosted a Dublin Marahon special and interviewed 5 local club athletes and tracked their training and hopes for the big day. That episode reached over 1600 listeners. To date the podcast has had over 13,000 plays in total and growing each week.

Brian and Damian through the Podcast want to support local runners and local clubs but also want to give back to Cork in anyway they can. Last Sunday the Podcast had it’s first fundraising event. A coffee morning run was organized in the Marina and once runners completed their early morning run they gathered in the Marina Market for a cuppa, a chat and a raffle and were asked to make a small donation to Penny Dinners. To their amazement the Runners Diary Cork Podcast ended up making over €1,100 for Penny Dinners. The Running community seems to have embraced this new podcast that sees Brian and Damian release an episode each week. The banter between the hosts has been one of the many positives and its all the more astonishing as Brian and Damian had never met prior to the podcast as such.

There is even bigger plans ahead as the duo launch their new website over the coming weeks, they also have plans for more fundraisers in the new year and have attracted interest from a number of companies in relation to sponsorship and competitions that can help make 2023 even more exciting. It’s early days yet but the Runners Diary Cork look like they will also be joining up with one of the biggest races in Ireland to host a number of specials. To find out more about The Runners Diary Cork you can follow them across all their social media channels and listen into their weekly podcast on all the major podcast platforms.

Posted in News.