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An NHS executive is to race against two of his sisters in the Brighton Half Marathon in a bid to raise hundreds of pounds for charity.
Diarmaid Crean, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, the largest provider of NHS community services in Sussex, will compete with siblings Tara and Orla on 27 June in aid of Sussex Community NHS Charity, the Trust’s official charity.
“We started running against each other for charity years ago and have just carried on,” said Diarmaid, who admits that another of his main motivations these days is so he “can keep eating biscuits”.
“I’m going to leave Tara and Orla for dust!” he joked, despite acknowledging that in their own family competition for medals, “Tara has the most by a mile”.
“My sisters are strong and steady, so they will complete the race at their own pace,” said Diarmaid, before revealing his strategy. “My plan is to try and reach a personal best – sub-two hours.”
He is inspired by the extraordinary challenges he has faced at work in the past year.
“It’s been a super-intense job over the last year with the COVID pandemic and vaccine programme, and I’ve been massively impressed by our people in the NHS,” said Diarmaid.
“So the opportunity to run and help raise money for our part of the NHS was too exciting to miss.”
With three months of fundraising still remaining, he has already secured pledges totalling £365, exceeding his initial target of £200 by a massive 182%.
Although such an impressive list of donations carries with it a certain weight of expectation, Diarmaid shows no signs of buckling under the pressure.
He is an experienced runner, completing 5km or 10km every week, occasionally via trails on the Downs, and enjoys squash and cycling.
Diarmaid has also completed the Brighton Half Marathon before and is preparing for this year’s event by following a 16-week training course.
Whatever happens on the day, beating his sisters to the finishing line, if only by a wafer-thin margin, will, in his case, take the biscuit.
You can sponsor Diarmaid by visiting his JustGiving page.
A total of 19 people have signed up to run the Brighton Half Marathon in aid of Sussex Community NHS Charity, including those who will attempt to complete an equivalent distance near their homes.