Two Cork families slug it out in first episode of Ireland's Fittest Family

STRENGTH, speed, endurance, grace under pressure... all these attributes and more will be in abundance when a ninth series of Ireland’s Fittest Family starts on RTÉ1 tomorrow (Sunday October 31) at 6.30pm.

The popular show aims to find the nation’s fittest clan, with a prize, after much huffing and puffing, of €15,000 up for grabs.

Once again there is a strong Cork contingent among the four mentors, while two Cork families will be slugging it out in the first episode.

Presenter Mairead Ronan is joined by the Cork trio of sporting legend Anna Geary, ex-rugby great Donncha O’Callaghan, and former athlete Derval O’Rourke, as well as GAA coach Davy Fitzgerald.

Tomorrow’s competing families include the McCarthy clan of Cork city, who have Geary as their mentor, and the Lehane family from County Cork, who are led by O’Calaghan.

The two families will be up against the Greenans from County Cavan, mentored by O’Rourke, and the Bissetts from Dublin, led by Fitzgerald.

The four families will take on ‘The Forest’, as they battle it out for two places at the next round of the competition at ‘The Lake’.

The competitors must each take on a brand-new event, High Nelly, where one member of each family takes to the skies and cycle 3kms on a bike 30ft in the air at a grueling gradient.

At the same time, the rest of the family complete a challenge that decreases that gradient and gets their cyclist peddling on the flat.

The fastest time wins, and for the family with the slowest time, it the long peddle home as they are the first to be eliminated from the competition.

The three remaining families have their backs against the wall in - you guessed it - Back Against the Wall! The winning family goes through to the next round, while the other two face the epic eliminator.

Of the four coaches, Davy Fitz, who left his role as Wexford hurling manager in July, is feeling smug after last year’s victory in Ireland’s Fittest Family.

The other three coaches will be working hard to prevent him winning ‘two in a row’.

Having crashed out of the competition early last year, Anna will do whatever it takes to win this year, but Derval and Donncha are not in the mood to let that happen.

It’s game on from the start line for the four coaches and their families!