The Snickers Man

It all started seven years ago, with a simple challenge, a loving wife telling a lazy husband to get his fat ass up off the couch and do some exercise.

Accepting he was a tad overweight, the chubby hubby was nonetheless more than a tad underwhelmed at the idea of putting on his red running shoes and dancing the chunky blues. 

Still, the missus had a point. And a glare. And so, Brian Gurrin was out the door, taking those first tentative steps by driving to another town, so that none of his neighbours could see him puffing and wheezing. And wobbling.

That this very same man has just finished three major marathons in the past six weeks – hitting Tokyo, Connemara and The Sally Gap – reflects just how far the bould Brian has come. And run. 

The fact that he recently won the Leinster 10-Mile Provincial Championship, as well as the Connemara Marathon (for the second year on the trot), and The Lap Of The Gap last Saturday – well, our Wicklow whizz makes Forrest Gump look positively lazy. 

And all those title wins means that this 50-year-old runner is now ranked 3rd in his age group in the Abbot World Marathon Majors. That’s no.3 out of 23,000 athletes around the world. Which is pretty darn bonkers for a guy who cautiously signed up for Kilcoole Athletics Club’s Monday evening runs just six years ago.

Exactly what gets his mojo running so well was just one of the issues we discussed when we caught up with young Brian down at Shoreline this afternoon…

You can find out more about the Kilcoole Athletics Club on their website here, or on Facebook here. You can also contact them directly on [email protected]. Oh, and go check out Brian’s history of Three Trout River here.