An asylum seeker living Direct Provision has said she is “nervous and excited” about running in Sunday’s Dublin Marathon.
Roughly 20,000 people will take part in the annual event and among them will be two people who live in Direct Provision.
Patience Dube has been training hard with an organisation called Sanctuary Runners, a running group for people who want to show solidarity with asylum seekers and refugees.
On The Hard Shoulder, Ms Dube admitted she “doesn’t know what to expect” but has a rough target time in mind.
“Maybe four hours?” she said.
“The training has been good because with our Sanctuary Runners, we have a group where everybody just runs and they post their running [times].”
Another Sanctuary Runner who also lives in Direct Provision, Kofi Kpoglo, previously completed a marathon in three hours.
On Sunday, he hopes he can finish in two hours and fifty minutes - thanks to Sanctuary Runners’ “very good” training programme.
Our Fairview group with some special guests on the Tolka Estuary Greenway for #GlobalRun2024 ☀️💙 pic.twitter.com/hSuOa1fXe2
— Sanctuary Runners Dublin (@SanctuaryRunDub) October 19, 2024
In total, Sanctuary Runners has around 3,000 active members and 42 groups all over the country.
In time, CEO Michael Daragh McAuley hopes there will be a group in every single county in Ireland.
“It’s a movement and bridge building initiative,” he said.
“It’s all focused on community integration.
“We create deliberate spaces all over the country for people to come together, to walk, to jog, to run.
“We particularly work with people seeking international protection and refugees over here.”
The Dublin Marathon. Credit: Michael Debets/Alamy Live NewsMr McAuley predicted by the end of the year there will be 50 groups and said members can make as much or as little commitment as they like to it.
“People can just show up, there’s as much commitment as you’d like,” he said.
“It’s fantastic - anyone who hasn’t been, I just advise them to come once.
“Communities need to talk to each other more than ever.
“Some people will meet down in a pub; with all the good will in the world from the local hurling club, it might not be easy for people who landed over here to go play Junior Hurling - I can’t even play Junior Hurling.”
The Dublin Marathon begins on Sunday at 8.45 in the morning.
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Main image: Sanctuary Runners. Picture by: Newstalk.
