A runner has completed the postponed Belfast marathon around the roads of south Derry for Covid-19 patients, while his brother has donated a car to nurses who are treating them.
Garvagh man Jim Bradley completed the marathon distance on Sunday morning on a circuit through Swatragh, Maghera and back to Garvagh.
He had hoped to raise £1,000 to buy iPads so that Covid-19 patients in the Intensive Care Unit at Coleraine hospital could keep in touch with their families. However, he quickly reached his target, with donations topping £4,000.
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“My wife Nicola, who is a nurse in ICU at Coleraine, mentioned the iPads and I’m a runner; I’ve been running for three or four years with Springwell running club.
“I’ve done Belfast before so I thought I can’t do it this year but I’ll do it around here at the same time so I set out at 9 o’clock on Sunday,” he said.
The south Derry man was joined by colleagues from Springwell running club in cars and bicycles who collected money along the way to add to Mr Bradley’s JustGiving page.
His marathon effort came around 12 hours after his brother Eamon donated a car to a nurse working in the Covid ward in Derry's Altnagelvin hospital.
Eamon Bradley, who owns EJB car sales in Garvagh, decided to donate the Chevrolet Spark after one of his staff was successfully treated for Covid-19.
Christine Orr spent two weeks in Altnagelvin before returning home and Mr Bradley said he felt he had to do something to show his appreciation.
“We decided to offer the car to a nurse in Coleraine or Altnagelvin so we came up with 59 nurses’ names, 30 in the Covid ward in Altnagelvin and 29 in Coleraine ICU.
"We placed a number against each name and the number that came out as bonus ball on Saturday night’s lottery was the winner.
“That was number 57, Maureen McGuinness, who works on the Covid Ward 31 in Altnagelvin,” Mr Bradley said.
The Garvagh businessman said he had himself won the Chevrolet in a raffle and felt it was a lucky car.
“I wanted to pass that luck on,” he said.
