Tearing Down The Wall

Brothers in arms…

ome of you will no doubt be already aware of the trouble Joe Clifford and his wheelchair-bound brother Ciaran have had with entering their latest globe-trotting marathon.

The authorities at the Berlin Marathon 2015 put up quite a few unexpected obstacles for the Greystones brothers to overcome.

And one by one, the Joe and Ciaran overcame those obstacles.

Here’s Joe’s statement to the Greystones Guide on all the fun and frolics involved with finally getting the all-clear for the September 27th gathering…

So, the situation as it stands is that we will run in Berlin on the 27th of September.
The conditions or terms of running are:
We start at the back
Under supervision i.e. race supervisor
Admit liability for any accidents
That we wave our time to complete the race e.g. sub 4 hours

We have agreed, as the bigger picture is Inclusion. It’s at a cost but its inclusion.
We had been refused entry 3 times for various reasons – e.g. we are runners and the entry date had expired, Ciaran can not propel himself forward in the chair, and the rules forbids entry of baby buggies. Although, in regard to the latter, ours is a modified T-Type chair similar to that of wheelchair competitors and we are not competing but rather doing this as a fun run. Although we run as fast as able bodied men 4 hours 33 mins. We also run faster than 2-hand biker competitor entries for the Berlin Marathon.

What changed our situation was pressure from the following:
Without the help of Sunbeam Services John Hannigan, Elaine O’Reilly and Brian Manning, Inclusion Ireland, Claire Callan who contacted me personally through Facebook, Emma Finucane, Team Hoyt, Ansleys Angels, Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency in Germany, runners groups, wheelchair associations and so many people who tweeted through media sources to the Berlin Marathon and BMW, I know for a fact we would have been in a whole different place.

Starting at the back is a bummer but that won’t deter our spirit and although it has been a struggle to enter we do respect the Berlin Marathon’s position and are grateful for the opportunity to run regardless of where it is.

You can follow Joe and Ciaran’s progress on their Facebook page here, and on Joe’s personal Twitter feed here, plus their My Greystones entry here and Joe Snr’s passing here.