Meet The Echo Women's Mini Marathon brand ambassador for 2024

Forget about times, and instead make running all about having the time of your life.

That is the advice of Cork woman Brenda Dennehy, who has four marathons under her belt and who facilitates a running group in London, where she’s based.

Brenda is the brand ambassador for The Echo Women’s Mini Marathon, this year, and says she’s very excited about the partnership.

“I did the mini marathon back in 2015, before I started running, and I remember it was so much craic. I really enjoyed it,” she said.

The 39-year-old, who goes by @brendasbits on Instagram, has since run three full marathons in London, one in New York, and is training for Dublin’s marathon next October. She’ll do that in memory of her beloved late dad, Dano, who died suddenly three days after she completed her most recent London run.

A marathon runner himself, he was Brenda’s biggest supporter, always by her side during the challenges that have come her way.

Brenda, from Ballydesmond on the Cork-Kerry border, has previously, generously and honestly, shared her story of addiction.

She has completed two residential programmes for alcohol and prescription drug addictions.

“I didn’t actually have my first drink until I was 19 but I felt instant relief. It quashed an anxiety I had always felt. Drinking wasn’t a problem during college, but in 2008, when the recession hit, I was in a depressive state, my anxiety spiralled, and so did my drinking,” she said.

She entered a programme to treat alcoholism when she was 25 and was sober for eight years, before becoming addicted to prescription drug Xanax combined with alcohol.

“That was even worse. I hit rock bottom, lost my job and I overdosed accidentally. My mother discovered me, but I think it was a cry for help,” she remembers.

Brenda genuinely doesn’t know where her anxiety stemmed from.

“I feel it was a chemical imbalance and that I was born with an addictive personality. I couldn’t shake the feeling of not being good enough. I felt that I was the shame of Cork, that I was a loser, the absolute pits,” she remembers.

Brenda spent three months in a treatment programme in 2019, and her passion for running started when she came back to Cork, around the time that lockdown hit.

“I was out a few months and all the supports I had in place were suddenly gone, so I just started running for my head really. 

I didn’t have a plan, and just started up and down the road in Ballincollig where I lived. 

"I had also just quit smoking – I was smoking 30 a day – so to start with, I couldn’t even manage 1km, I was so out of breath.

“Then, after a while I started going to the Regional Park, and I gradually built up my distances.”

She marked the milestone of being a year off cigarettes by running 30km, and hasn’t looked back.

“Running was a huge part of my recovery. It’s better than any drink or tablet and gives me so much joy,” she said.

When her dad died, in her initial grief, the thought occurred to her that she could “go back on everything”.

“Your whole world is in turmoil when you lose a parent, but I felt that it would be the biggest insult ever to him. In actual fact, Dano’s death made me more resilient. I can never say never, but I’ve no compulsions and it’s the last thing on my mind,” she said.

Looking back, Brenda says she could never have imagined how fabulous her life would become.

She’s lived in London for over two years and has a job she loves: she’s a TV producer for Good Morning Britain on ITV.

I’m a completely different person now. I write gratitude lists every day, and affirmations, and I’ve a huge appreciation for life.

Brenda will turn 40 next April and will mark the occasion with a solo trip to Australia.

“I excel when I’m on my own. I find myself in situations that I never would have with others.”

She is adamant that running saved her.

“Running changed my life,” she said.

Her London running group is called ‘The Fast and the Curious’ (see it on Instagram) and it’s an all-inclusive space, where no-one is left behind. Brenda is applying the same ethos to the mini marathon and is urging everyone, regardless of age and fitness, to get involved.

“Stop thinking, and just keep on moving and you’ll get there – it really is as simple as that. 

You are never going to remember what time you ran in, I don’t, but what you will remember is the camaraderie and fun you had along the way.

HOW TO TAKE PART

Registration is open for The Echo Women’s Mini Marathon.

Now in its 43rd year, the event is hosted by Cork Athletics.

It raises approximately €1.5m for charities each year, and is one of Cork city’s best-loved sporting and social events. The 5km event will take place on September 22 at 1pm.

The race route is the same as the last, with one change, the start line stage will be positioned on Kennedy Quay. Once the race starts, the route proceeds down Kennedy Quay and onto Victoria Road, then turns left onto Centre Park Road, and down the Marina, turning right into Páirc Uí Chaoimh and proceeding around the Blackrock end of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, on the outside, up between the all-weather pitches, and then turning right into the gated GAA car park, and left after about 100m, into the new Marina Park and up towards the bandstand, then left and back down again in front of Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

After the racers have gone past the all-weather pitches, turn right toward CAB, and then from there continue straight up Monahan Road and finish in Kennedy Park.

Keep an eye on the Mini Marathon Facebook page and website in the coming weeks for updates.

Participants can register at https://www.echolive.ie/minimarathon

This year’s training partner is Nourish.