Ballygar native, Adrian ‘Speedy’ Smith, is one of the most unassuming people you’ll ever meet. Thankfully, the talented member of Roscommon Harriers agreed to discuss his remarkable efforts on behalf of the Join Our Boys Trust…albeit rather reluctantly!
The Trust was set up to support three young brothers Archie, George and Isaac after they were diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Brave Archie sadly passed away last year but his memory is ingrained in the minds of all those who ran with him in consecutive Dublin City Marathons.
Adrian, who works in construction with the family firm ‘Donie Smith & Sons’, has been running marathons for eleven years now, gracing the streets of Dublin, Limerick, Cork and even New York a number of times in that period.
“I joined the Roscommon Harriers in 2011 and ran my first marathon in 2012,” he told the Roscommon People this week.
“I have taken part in all the Team Archie marathons in Dublin, both with Archie and then last year with Isaac.
“I’ve loved being part of Team Archie and running last year with Isaac. Losing Archie was very hard; he was such a great character who kept us all going. He was always cracking jokes or making fun of us. It was great to be able to complete the marathon again with Isaac last year and hopefully we’ll have George involved this year too”.
Aside from his Join Our Boys endeavours, the 46-year-old is also an extremely talented runner, as his nickname implies. ‘Speedy’ says the secret to his marathon training is hitting the road early!
“I’m up in the mornings for training. It’s very important to get the training done early in the morning because that keeps you going for the rest of the day. It’s great for the head as well as everything else,” he says.
As if marathon distances weren’t enough, next month Adrian and teammates Sinead Gannon and Tonya Hand plan on running 77km in just one day, on July 7th, to mark Archie Naughton’s one-year anniversary while also attempting to raise more funds for the Join Our Boys Trust.
