Fitness enthusiast
Danny Quigley inherited a passion for fitness from his father Colm Quigley and the pair were often seen running the roads around Derry.
Sadly depression took hold of Colm 11 years ago and despite the efforts of his family, he died by suicide on March 23, 2011.
Since then Danny has retained the love for fitness instilled in him by his father and now owns and runs a gym in Derry city centre.
To mark the 10th anniversary of his father’s death, Danny has begun training for the gruelling challenge which comprises of a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile cycle before running a marathon.
For most people, doing this even once would be unimaginable but Danny intends to do the Ironman challenge 10 consecutive times.
Danny said it was such an appropriate tribute to his father.
He told the Belfast Telegraph “I do understand the magnitude to what I am undertaking and I know there’s not many people in the world that would have done 10 Ironman challenges in a row so I might be the first on the island of Ireland.
“I decided to do 10 because this is the 10th anniversary of my father’s death so I wanted to acknowledge that and this is such an appropriate way because he was really into his fitness too.
“I’ve never done an Ironman challenge before. I’ve done a few triathlons and a couple of half Ironman but I have never gone to the distance of a full Ironman.”
Danny has already launched a fundraising page to collect funds for Pieta, a suicide prevention charity, and the Bogside/Brandywell Health Forum, which organises a 5K Jog in the Bog run in memory of his father.
Danny added: “My daddy did triathlons and raced for Ireland which is how I got into fitness in the first place but he was affected by depression a year or so before he died. At that time, I started training with him and we were suppose to enter a triathlon in April 2011 but he didn’t get to do it because he died in March.
“Daddy was the kind of person who wouldn’t let any of us lie in our beds so I realised how low he was one day that we were suppose to go out on the bikes in the afternoon and he was still in bed.
“That was a big eye opener for me and even though I didn’t know then what was wrong, I know now how badly affected he was with the depression and if depression can hit someone like my father I want people to realise this is something that could touch the lives of anyone at any time but there are organisations like Pieta that works specifically around suicide that are there to help.
“I set myself a goal of raising £2,500 but we had reached that within a couple of days so I have raised the target to £5,000 but ideally I would love to reach £10,000 considering I am doing 10 Ironmen challenges to mark the 10 years since daddy died.”
Pieta offers 24 hour help to those in need of help at Freephone 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444
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