Cork man takes on Ironman challenge to raise funds for first responders at his brother's accident

A CORK man is set to complete an incredible feat of endurance this weekend to raise funds for a rapid response charity.

Dungourney man Conor Casey lost his brother Patrick in 1999 following an accident, and he wants to repay the support that East Cork Rapid Response offered at the time.

“My brother Patrick was involved in an accident, and they were one of the first responders on the scene and they gave him due care and brought him up to the hospital where he passed away a couple of days later,” Conor explained.

“I said it would be a good thing to support them by doing a sponsored Ironman.”

Conor has raised just under €5,000 at the time of writing and aims to raise as much money as possible.

“The support for the GoFundMe has been phenomenal so far,” he added.

“There’s nearly €5,000 raised so far, which is brilliant.”

Conor works for Dell, and the tech company has pledged that it will match all donations up to $10,000.

An Ironman consists of a 3.8km swim, followed by 180km cycle and a full marathon to finish.

“It’s a fair trek but I’ve been training hard,” Conor explained. “I did my first triathlon three years ago and I did the half Ironman last year in Youghal.”

The father of four starts training at 5am each morning, and he would usually be home and hosed by 9am to bring his children to school each day.

Conor’s love for cycling began in 2019 after he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and found cycling an enjoyable way of training with an injury.

“I started training for the half Ironman at the start of last year. I would have increased my cycling and running,” he said.

“I really got into my cycling in 2019. I did my ACL in 2019 and I started cycling in 5km loops, which increased to 10km and 20km overtime.”

Although Conor is undertaking the mammoth task, he reckons his wife Siobhán will have the toughest job on Sunday.

“I think my wife will have the toughest job on Sunday trying to follow me around and keep our four kids happy,” he said.

“A massive shoutout to Train Station Gym in Midleton’s Des Ryan, who volunteered to do one of the stations on Sunday,” Conor added.

“He will be getting €750 but he is going to donate it to the GoFundMe, which is amazing.”

The Ironman will take place in various places around Youghal on Sunday, August 20.

Conor does not have a finish time in mind but he hopes to finish the course within 13 to 17 hours.

People can donate to Conor’s fundraiser on GoFundMe.