UNDER the leadership of John Kinsella of Southill – the only man over 40 to have completed all six World Marathon Majors – a band of Limerick runners are shaping up to compete in the 2026 Boston Marathon.
The group’s effort comes under a new project titled Back2Boston – taking inspiration from a similar such exercise undertaken under the guidance of Fr Joe Young and businessman Billy Higgins in the 1980s – and will involve an element of fundraising.
“I am trying to start up something to help people from disadvantaged areas with running. I want to create a pathway to the Boston Marathon for people in Limerick by mentoring and coaching people who will become ambassadors in their communities,” Kinsella told the Limerick Post.
“This project is more than a running programme, it’s a movement to uplift entire communities,” he adds of his Boston-bound ambitions.
Such is its popularity, general entry into the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world is a hefty €10,000.
Kinsella says that “that’s crazy money, because when I qualify it only costs me $260. So if I can get some people qualified, I can raise money to bring them over to Boston.”
“I have secured some entries for the Dublin Marathon in October thanks to the race director Jim Aughney, so I can train five people full time for that in the autumn with the hope some of them qualify for Boston the following year.”
Up first will be an outing in the Cork Marathon in June with Limerick men Joe Slattery, John Finucane, Daryl Moynihan, Patrick McNamara, Paddy O’Callaghan, and the experienced Kinsella himself.
To this day, the Limerick athlete is the only person in the world over 40 to have completed all six World Marathon Majors in under a hugely impressive 2 hours 30 minutes.
Along with New York, the other legs of the infamous six are Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, and Chicago.
John’s achievement is all the more remarkable given that the Southill athlete only took up the sport inside the last 10 years.
“Someone said at my first run (a 10k in Mungret) that I was capable of a marathon run, and that started the special journey for me of marathon running,” he recalled.
Now, he is looking to get his community up and out with him too, and has called on local businesses to support.
“We invite local businesses, organisations and individuals to join us in supporting this mission, one which will be chronicled from the first training session until the crossing of the finishing line,” said Kinsella.
More information and donations on back2boston.ie.
