A LIMERICK mother who took part in Ireland’s Fittest Family with her sons says the challenges are even harder than they look on TV.
Miriam Kearns made her debut on the show on Sunday last (November 5) with her sons Wayne, Gerard, and Alex.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, mum Miriam said that the challenges her family had to face as part of the competition are even harder than they look.
“You look at some of the things when you’re watching them on telly and you’re like ‘will you come on’, but some of the conditions up there, you wouldn’t have been used to them at all, so it all depends. And then there’s all different courses, it’s all done by picking a straw what course you do,” Miriam explained.
The Kearns family from Caherdavin are no strangers to Ireland’s Fittest Family, having entered a number of years ago and getting to 17th place, but they never made it onto the small screen on their first time around.
Miriam explained that, back then, she entered with her two sons and her daughter, but this time around, her youngest son was the driving force behind the getting involved once again.
“The smallest fella then, he just kept asking as the years were going by, ‘were we going to do it again?’ So we went for it then this year.”
Miriam said that competing is “very tough”, and the weather conditions play into it a lot. “It’s fun as well,” she said.
The Kearns family are well-known in GAA circles locally, with Wayne Kearns having just won a county final medal with Na Piarsaigh.
“The three boys are all hurlers, Wayne actually was with the Na Piarsaigh senior team that won the county title, and Alex, he’s 15, he plays with county as well as club.”
“I train and coach the rounders teams for Na Piarsaigh,” Miriam said.
“So we have a ladies, a mens, and a mixed team, and I also still play Gaelic football with Claughaun and Na Piarsaigh.”
The challenge saw the Kearns family battle it out for the €15,000 top prize and the title of Ireland’s Fittest Family.
Aside from all the rivalry, Miriam said that the experience gave her valuable time to spend with her sons.
“It was lovely to spend time with the three boys because I usually do all the nice things with my daughter, and it was just lovely to have the three boys and myself for a couple of days, so I enjoyed that part as well,” Miriam concluded.
Sunday night’s show saw the Kearns family unfortunately eliminated from the competition.
