Asylum seeker running club to tackle Dublin Marathon

A running group made up of asylum seekers and Irish locals is taking on the Dublin Marathon and participants say training has helped pull them from a dark place.

A group of 100 people will run as part of the Sanctuary Runners team in the Irish capital, with a quarter of them seeking international protection in Ireland.

The group believes this will be the highest number of international protection applicants to have ever taken part in a full marathon worldwide.

Graham Clifford, founder of Sanctuary Runners, said the record attempt is: "the celebration of people who just happen to be from all over the world".

"Some of these people would have spent time living in tents because there was an accommodation shortage," Clifford, a 47-year-old, from Kerry in Ireland, told the PA news agency.

"They live in situations where they share communal wash facilities with many others. They share rooms with many others. They have very little money in their pocket, so going out and buying fancy running gear or gel or whatever isn't something they can do.

"To get to the start line is an amazing achievement."

Among the group of 25 running the race are Thobekile Ncube, 41, and Thembi Tshuma, 37 - both are from Zimbabwe and are living in an accommodation centre in Fermoy, Cork, with their respective daughters.

Tshuma, who is doing cleaning and security work, said without Sanctuary Runners she doesn't know where she would be.

"Running has transformed me from being in a dark situation to one now where I feel I have so much power to think and make the right decisions," she said.

"Many people talk about solidarity, but I feel this is it in action. I just can't wait to run with all my friends from Ireland and across the world."

Sanctuary Runners has 42 groups across Ireland, with more than 20,000 people having taken part in its activities since its launch in January 2018.

The group focuses on community integration, using running, jogging, walking and swimming to bring together the local community and those who have come from other countries.

Mr Clifford said it was an amazing dynamic to have such an eclectic team.

"We're all on this one WhatsApp group, 100 of us. So about 75 of us are Irish, and about 25 are from all over the world," he said.

"This will be a celebration of people. Not legal status, not nationality, not ethnicity or skin colour, but a celebration of people who just happen to be from all over the world."