DERRY man Colm Quigley could have turned his hand to anything.
The elite-level triathlete raced for Ireland, was a swimming and triathlon coach, and was always available to help or advise other athletes.
He also drove taxis, did handyman and tiling work to support his family and was a fantastic dad to his five children.
But in less than a year, the 39-year-old enthusiastic ball of energy was so overwhelmed by depression that he took his own life in March 2011.
For his son Danny, like the rest of the family, it was a devastating blow.
But in the intervening years, Danny has sought to find out more about anxiety and depression, has helped raise thousands of pounds for mental health support and has recently set up his own ‘recovery hub’ in Derry where people can go for some quiet time.
And tomorrow, he will take on his biggest challenge to date when he begins the Deca Ironman challenge (10 Ironman challenges in 10 days), to pay tribute to his father and mark the 10th anniversary of his death.
Over each of the days until August 29, Danny will swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles and run 26.2 miles around the north west, clocking up an average of 12 to 15 hours daily in a gruelling test of physical and mental endurance.
Half of the money raised will go to Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum (BBHF) in Derry, which runs counselling and mental health services and holds an annual 5k run in Colm’s memory.
The other half will be donated to Irish charity Pieta House - the family was living in Burt, Co Donegal, at the time of Colm’s death -which provides therapy for those who are suicidal, self-harming or bereaved by suicide.
Danny chose the date of his father’s death to launch the fundraising initiative and he has been training for every one of the 150-odd days since.
The 30-year-old runs a gym in Newtowncunningham in Donegal which he describes as “a community of like-minded people that put their fitness and mental well-being first”.
Looking back to the period before his father’s death, Danny says there were signs something was amiss but, as a young man with no idea about mental health problems, he didn’t fully understand what was happening or the implications.
“Everything was rosy, everything was great and then he fell into that depression,” he recalls. “He went really downhill and he wasn’t himself. In hindsight, there were things he did that just weren’t him.
“There was one day that jumps out at me. He was supposed to meet me for a cycle and I went down to the house to get him and he wasn’t ready. He was actually lying in his bed.
“My daddy would have been the kind of boy who would have made sure we were all up, we weren’t allowed to lie in our beds during the day.
“It was the first shock for me, the first time I saw him out of his normal self.
“There was a lot going on in his life. A lot of negative things happened around the one time and there were stresses and anxieties. I think it all got too much.
“For somebody looking in who didn’t know what my daddy was like, you would have thought ‘that man never stops’, but as his son I knew his workload and his training load had more than halved. It was a massive reduction, a massive change.”
Danny, who has two sons, Jack (7), and Malachy, who will be two next month, describes the news of his father’s death as “the worst of my life”.
But he attributes the strength he found to keep going - and the positives he has created from the tragedy - to his dad.
“A lot of it (the strength) would have come from my da and his whole personality and drive,” he continues.
“It was engrained in us not to be lazy and to have that work ethic. He brought us up to look after ourselves, to keep fit, to keep healthy.
“After it happened, a lot of my daddy’s friends surrounded me and created this shield. They would have rung me every night and said, ‘What are you doing tomorrow? Do you want to come out on a cycle or a run with us? Do you want to have a chat?’
“They weren’t pressuring me but after about a week or so of just being in limbo, of being totally on another planet, I got back to them and said I wanted to go out.
“They all held my daddy in very high esteem. If they had any questions about their training regimes, he would have been the man to ask. He would have helped them out and set them on the right path.”
In fact, such was the Bogside native’s popularity that the annual Jog in the Bog, a race he attended and which he encouraged many others to take part in, was renamed in his memory a year after his death.
The run has raised thousands down the years, all of which goes back into helping the local community.
Danny has attended day courses on depression and mental health to try to understand how his dad was feeling and how he “got to that stage”.
“It was scary for me that you could get to that point, being so fit and so strong. I couldn’t get my head round it. Is it the flick of a switch or is it a build-up of things?
“One of the top things I took away from the courses is that depression and anxiety are an illness, you don’t choose to have them, it’s not a selfish act.
“Learning that gave me a lot of peace and relief.”
Once the challenge is over, Danny is also hoping to develop the recovery hub, which has equipment such as massage chairs and recovery boots, as a “space for people to go to clear their head and chill out, to recover from any physical or mental problem and give themselves a wee bit of self-care”.
Danny’s main focus at the moment, however, is making it through the upcoming “mammoth challenge”.
He has been “overwhelmed” by the support from people who have donated money and from local companies and individuals who are helping with training and diet.
During the event, Danny will need to consume 16,000 calories daily, taking in food or drink every 20 minutes that doesn’t require a lot of chewing.
“Chewing takes up too much energy and it’s hard to do when you’re also trying to breathe,” he explains.
O’Neills, which are the main sponsors of the Colm Quigley Jog in the Bog for the second year, are also supplying all his running gear, for which he is extremely grateful as he will need constant changes of clothing.
Danny, who has never competed in a full Ironman event before but has finished on the podium for half-Ironman events, admits to feeling rather “nervous” about the challenge he has set himself, but also determined to do it for both the charities and his dad.
He is hoping it won’t be too windy, otherwise “I’ll be wasting energy on the bike”, and that he will stay injury-free.
“I have booked a wee house in Buncrana for five days afterwards, just to take the family away,” he adds. “I will probably sleep the whole time!”
Son Jack (7), meanwhile, is hugely excited.
“He’s running around telling everyone ‘my daddy’s a legend’, so that’s cool. He knows I’m doing it for my daddy and he loves that,” says Danny.
Danny has set a target of £10,000 and, to date, is well on course to reach it.
Anyone wishing to donate, can do so at www.gofundme.com/DannyQuigley10
