The Power of 12 Hours!

We sat down with Maureen O'Brien, one of the event organisers for the 12 Hour Challenge and discussed all things 12 Hour!

Hi Maureen as the brainchild behind the challenge what inspired you to create the 12-Hour Challenge?

As a committee last year we wanted to do a fundraising charity event, like the club had done with the 1 mile every hour for 24 hours. I purposed the 12 hour spinathon and run frenzy. We didn't run with it at the time and I actually let it go for a while but revisited it again, only this time I came armed with a presentation. The committee saw the vision and agreed that while it will be a crazy endurance event, it had all the prospects to be a fun event. I was tasked with finding a few members interested to help bring the event to life. The small committee at the time consisted of Laura, Brian, Lynette, Sharon and myself, to all I am so grateful.

Tim Bolens 12 Hours of Pain and Purpose in the US

Why did you choose a spinathon and runathon format? Or where did the inspiration come from?

So the actual event inspiration came from a friend of mine (my brother's coach and good friend) Tim Bolen in Arizona. Tim is a founder of a non profit organisation called Together we Live. Tim is an amazing person and the most selfless person I've ever come across. The event called the "12 hours of pain and purpose" takes place each year, raising funds for equipment to allow young people with various disabilities to partake triathlon and marathons with athletes. It's truly incredible.

How did you decide on the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Athlone Family Resource Centre as beneficiaries of the event?

As a committee we all had a few suggestions and I suppose one of the reasons I was passionate about going ahead with the event was to support the IMNDA. My own poor dad, at the age of 68 was diagnosed with ALS MND. I see first hand what this awful disease does to a person and my hearts breaks for a what was a sport loving active man, now wasting away. We wanted to support a local charity also and this event was hopefully going to engage the local community. The Athlone family resource centre was selected on that basis. The AFRC do so much for those in the Athlone and surrounding areas and receive very little support from the government. They were so thrilled when we told them, they couldn't believe someone thought of them.

What kind of atmosphere can participants and spectators expect during the challenge? Any entertainment or surprises planned?

Oh, we have so much planned we can hardly contain ourselves 😆 we have some amazing people on board to keep all athletes motivated and high energy for the full 12 hours. Whatever your music taste is, we have it covered. We have 12 different spin instructors on the day who will each bring a new and exciting session. Our music will fill the gym and our MC will fully engage each runner and cyclist. Oh, and who said you can't pull your own ice-cream from our machine in February!! 🍦

Can you walk us through the logistics of the challenge? What does it take to organize a 12-hour event like this?

Athlone Community College

Lots of bloody amazing people! I guess, as I said earlier it started with a small team of people. We meet via zoom each Tuesday evening and between us all we got a mighty amount of work done. I'll be honest though, I was always bringing up the Merchandise convo as I loved the "fun" side of the organisation. Thankfully though we have some great people on board with connections and the previous experience of running such events. Getting Athlone community school in board was a massive deal. This meant we had a central location with safe access to the Greenaway and the Fitness park at ARSC for a safe and interesting run route. Everyone is still working super hard on gaining sponsorship and promoting the event.

Have you faced any unexpected challenges during the planning process? If so, how did you overcome them?

Not really. Actually I think quite the opposite. The generosity and support from Triathlon Ireland, ACC, Westmeath Co Co and ARSC has been overwhelming. Our benificies have also been very supportive and helping increase awareness of the event. It actually has been amazing so far. Fingers crossed it stays that way 🙏

What do you hope participants will take away from this experience beyond raising funds?

I hope participants will enjoy their own personal challenge. We have participants taking on the solo run hoping to walk /jog 1 km every hour and wanting to soak up the atmosphere and sense of satisfaction in themselves. We have participants taking on a marathon and ultra marathon in a non competitive environment over a 12 hour period. We have solo cyclist digging in for the 12 hours and relays of up to 12 taking on the challenge to support and have the craic with friends and family. I hope everyone walking away from this thinks to themselves "what an amazing day that was" and are so proud of themselves.

How can people get involved, either as participants or supporters?

People can register at www.12hourchallenge.ie to take part. Contact the committee or email info@12hourchallenge.ie to volunteer on the day. We desperately need a lot of volunteers to cover the 12 hours. We don't want anyone marshaling more than just a few hours so having a rota of people to cover only a few hours is so important. We hope that family and friends show up to support and enjoy the day and atmosphere that we are going to create.

Looking ahead, do you envision the 12-Hour Challenge becoming an annual event, or are there other fundraising projects on the horizon?

Yes, I really hope the 12 hour challenge stays as an annual event for Athlone Triathlon Club. I hope it's a very successful day and becomes an event that people look forward to each year.