The final total: €4,750

Thank you, thank you, thank you. The final total of €4,750 raised is three times our previous best effort.You are all amazing and as a mark of gratitude here's the highlights from the big one. Ladies and gentlemen, video coverage of my participation in the New York City marathon with commentary by Cóilín Duffy.



Thanks to everyone who supported us in any way. I'd like to extend a personal thanks to John Craddock for his efforts in Dublin and to Cóilín for taking time out of his busy schedule to record the commentary for that video.

Like the video says, we'll have a new challenge in August 2009 and we'll be announcing details in March.

A big thank you

It's just over 2 weeks since the race and I'm pretty much recovered. We haven't got the bulk of the photos yet but thanks to John Sheridan we can show you two from near the end.

Seeing as I'm thanking John for the pics I might as well take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped the campaign.

First off Comit Marketing deserve a particularly heavy dose of praise. The guys in there helped us secure a lot of the prizes for the draw and showed interest throughout the campaign. Likewise Heneghan PR were a great help in securing prizes for the draw and supporting the cause and we are very grateful to them.

Damovo, Strencom, Cable & Wireless, Motorola, the ESB (in particular Gerry McGough), Tipperary GAA and Dublin GAA (in particular John Costello) were all a great help in either donating or securing prizes for the draw and we are delighted they were able to support us. Thanks also to Paddy Power (in particular Michelle Daly) for providing odds on the race.

Running this campaign took a lot more than just one person. John Craddock made an immense contribution. On top of doing the Dublin marathon, John was also my training partner and the man that drove me to the Dublin 10 mile and half marathon races.

Ciaran Ruane, Fergal Casey and Cóilín Duffy all gave a great deal of support in help in our promotional effort. The trio, along with John, helped make so many of our videos possible. In that same respect, a big thanks to Lee Daly, Greg Bowler, Cian Ginty, Mary Dobbs, Gareth Murphy and Niall McClave for appearing in our videos.

Greg, John Sheridan, Kate Fitzgerald, and the whole DCU debating posse deserve a big heap of praise for their backing throughout the campaign. The DCU Saints also gave tremendous support all season long and that was a big help.

On the UCD side Sir Keith Thompson, who did the Great North Run, Eve Rowan, who is always there to support me, and a shedload of other people deserve a whole heap of praise. Nearish to UCD, Eoin Kennedy in Slattery Communications offered great encouragement over the last few months.

Martin Cahill, Grainne Kennedy, and all the guys in the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland helped a great deal both pre and post race.

Last but not least I want to thank everyone who has supported this cause in any way. Be you well wishers, people that bought tickets for the draw, or anyone else that donated, your help is thoroughly appreciated.

Oh and it's not over...you can still donate through our MyCharity.ie page. We'll keep taking donations for about another month before formally announcing our total either in late December or early 2009.

The Big Interview

Technical problem with Interview now rectified and available for download.

With less than 48 hours to go until the start of the 2008 ING New York City Marathon, STIG for CF Ireland brings you this exclusive interview, as sports journalist extraordinaire Cóilín Duffy speaks with Emmet Ryan.

To listen to this controversial one-on-one, just click on the link below.

The Big Interview

Remember to tune into this blog from 4pm on Sunday Irish time, 11am Eastern time, to catch regular updates of my progress in the race.

The Transatlantic Challenge is set

As the interview above indicates, I'll be gunning for John's time of 6 hours 44 minutes and 30 seconds when I hit the Five Boroughs on Sunday. It's quite simple. If I'm faster I win. If I'm slower I lose. The battle for bragging rights is on, it's on like Donkey Kong!

Dublin Marathon highlights

A confident and assured John Craddock took to the streets of Dublin on Monday morning, and our cameras were there to capture all the action.



Congratulations to John, he avoided the personal worst and completed the full 26.2 miles. John's formal chip time was 6 hours 44 minutes and 30 seconds, which is based on when he crossed the start line. This will be my secondary target in New York, after my existing PB of 6 hours 49 minutes.

If you want to show your support for John's efforts you can do so at our MyCharity.ie page. We'll have further updates throughout the week leading up to part two of this year's campaign, the New York City Marathon.

Dublin City Marathon - Update 3 - The final update

It's Emmet here again, John finished the Dublin City Marathon in 6 hours 48 minutes and about 32 seconds (we aren't quite sure how many were on the clock when he crossed the line). When his chip time is calculated that'll drop around 5 minutes. Even we that reduction however we can say this, for pretty much the first time ever we have a race on. John's final time will be a few minutes inside my PB meaning that the Transatlantic race is on. We'll have more on that later in the week.

While I was out and about I ran into Cormac Toomey, former Sports Editor of the University Observer, around the corner from my house. He was on course to break 4 hours at that stage. Later on I ran into Barry Alistair again, I believe it's his first time doing the distance, and he was on course for around a 5 hour time. Well done to both lads.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the effort of a Limerick man with one leg amputated who shattered the world record for completing a marathon on crutches. Other notable finishers were the pint of Guinness and a toucan. At the 17 mile mark there was a solid 6 minute gap between them, with the toucan leading. If what might be considered a fix the two crossed the line together a couple of hours later.

Congratulations to John and all the other finishers today and thanks to everyone who came out to support them.

We'll have video highlights of the day and the marathon expo up either later on tonight or early enough tomorrow.

Dublin City Marathon - Update 2

Emmet is out on the course showing John how it's done so it's left to his flatmate, Ciaran, to give you the latest update on today's race.

It's now 4 hours and 13 minutes after the race started (or thereabouts) and John has reached the 17-mile mark, only a couple of miles from where I'm writing this post. This keeps John ahead of schedule for beating his Personal Worst time but unfortunately the race win has escaped his grasp with Andriy Naumov crossing the finish line about 2 hours ago. John assures me that he would have been in contention for the win if he didn't have to save a drowning child at O'Connell St. Bridge.

Dublin City Marathon - Update 1

John started the Dublin City Marathon around 40 minutes ago. He seemed in good form at the start and was happy with the weather conditions.

It's already been an active enough morning for me. While waiting for John to reach my vantage point at Merrion Square I saw fellow UCD fan Bryan Casey and IrishDev's Barry Alistair, both of whom are running the race this year. Earlier in the day, before the race start, I ran into Linda Stanley. Linda was involved in DCU FM and made the foolhardy but welcome decision of greenlighting my old business show 'Adam Smith Should Know Better' many years ago.

There's 11,900 runners, walkers and wheelchair competitors out on the course. If you're anywhere near the race today be sure to go out and offer you support. We'll have further updates later in the day.

The Sunday Column - Part one of the campaign is just hours away

Monday morning will see John Craddock take to the streets of Dublin in part one of STIG for CF Ireland 2008.

John's done plenty of these before so he knows what he's doing and despite his own protestations he has done a reasonable bit of training for this race. A personal worst will be mocked if it occurs, the pressure's on.

We'll have updates during the day when possible, though this will likely be just one highly useless one just after the start. My flatmate however might be able to deliver more useful updates later in the day with more relevant information.

Late tomorrow night we'll have a video of John's race highlights, including pre-race experiences at the registration Expo. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates.

Oh and seeing as it's been at least three days since the last shameless plug for the charity element of this, you can donate to the campaign to show your support for John and me at our MyCharity page. As always we're grateful to everyone that's supported us to date.

Welcome Irish Times readers

Some of you today will be visiting this blog for the first time after reading about my escapades in this article from today's health supplement of the Irish Times. Welcome to STIG for CF Ireland's blog...let's get you up to speed.

As you'll be aware from the piece I'm doing the New York City Marathon on 2 November in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland. On top of this my good friend and training partner John Craddock will be competing in the Dublin City Marathon on 27 October, which is this Monday, as part of our campaign.

Here's a montage charting our preparation that regular visitors to this blog will be familiar with.


There's plenty of info in the posts below about other activities we're doing as part of the build up and other ways in which you can get involved in the campaign.

If you would like to donate check out our MyCharity page and thanks for your support.