When you’ve been organising something like the Hardman triathlon for five years, people are going to ask you whether you compete in events yourself. After all, if you expect other people to swim 3.8km, cycle the Ring of Kerry and run a marathon all in one day, you should have at least considered doing something similar yourself. My stock answer is that I have nothing to prove, having completed the Marathon des Sables (MDS) in 2006, but that’s nearly a decade ago now, and it’s time to find a new event.

The Wild Atlantic Way, with its 2,500km of sheer scale and spectacle, offers just the kind of grand gesture I’ve been looking for. Research done and permissions secured, the stage is set for me to head out from the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal on June 1st, 2016, and run south for the entire length of the Wild Atlantic Way until I reach Kinsale in Co. Cork some time later. I will be accompanied by a small support crew and the run will raise funds for a national charity that is close to my heart. Unlike the MDS, which I entered with no preparation and completed on a first-name basis with the sweeper camels, this time I have started a comprehensive training programme with the help of a top coach. To the best of my knowledge this is the longest solo run undertaken in Ireland and therefore requires a huge amount of training and effort, both of which I am fully prepared for. The distance covered each day will be determined by various factors but however long it takes it is shaping up to be a very worthwhile event and one hell of a midlife crisis.