We ran a 100km stretch of this canal in 2020 from Dublin to Abbeyshrule and when researching for that we noticed that Gary O'Daly had ran the entire length from East to West in 2019 - so we set ourselves the challenge of running the full distance in 2021 for charity. We decided for logistical reasons; it would be better to run it from West to East so we could arrive back to our home town of Dublin.
We started in Cloondara, Co Longford just before 21:45 on Friday night and ran all through the night and next day, finishing at the River Liffey in Dublin City around 17:35 on Saturday evening.
We were a team of four, consisting of Daragh Crowley, Brian Fitzsimons, Eddie Garry and Paul Malone. Van support came from John Fitzsimons at intervals along the route with food and change of gear etc - the canal paths are mostly paved but has a section that requires trail runners.
The weather was pretty good for December with only sections of misty rain from Mullingar onwards.
It was a tough but rewarding challenge.