Sisters set to complete marathon challenge in Tokyo
ATHLETICS
Two sisters, Alma McClorey and Petrina Edwards will today (Wednesday) start out on the long trek from their homes in the Athboy area to Tokyo where they intend to take part in that city's famous marathon on Sunday.
The marathon will be the final leg of an extraordinary series of races the sisters have completed in recent years. The two sisters have already completed marathons in Boston, Chicago, New York, London and Berlin and when they do complete the race in Tokyo they will receive the coveted World Major Marathon Medal which is presented to those who complete all six city events.
The sisters belong to a select group as only 8,000 people worldwide who have completed the six World Major Marathons series and no two sisters in the world have ever achieved this medal before on the same day.
"We embarked on this adventure because it was a different challenge, it's something not many people have done, we like travelling around," said Alma who is a member of Fr Murphy AC based outside Athboy while Petrina is with Trim AC.
Originally from Tubbercurry, Sligo Alma and Petrina (nee Kennedy) engaged in some athletic events in their teenager years at Community Games level but, as they got older, they drifted away from the sport.
Alma became a bank manager with AIB and worked in branches in Trim and Navan. Now working with the bank in Dublin she married Athboy man John McClory have two children. Petrina also has two children and works as a cabin manager with Aer Lingus. She is married Dublin man Senan Edwards and also settled down in Athboy. During her career with Aer Lingus she has met many famous people including Pope Francis.
They somehow managed to have successful careers while also raising their families. Some years ago they also kick-started their running careers in order, initially at least, to attain and sustain a certain level of fitness. They started running, extending themselves further and further while all the time encouraging and helping each other get over the challenges they faced along the way.
They started out on 5k walks/runs and gradually built up their stamina and fitness from there before moving things up a few notches and embarking on the six marathon challenge in cities throughout the world. Now all the remains to be conquered is the famous Tokyo Marathon. The sisters are two very different runners with Petrina taking it very serious and her marathon PB at 3.20 underlines the point whilst Alma is the opposite.
"I'm about walking and running, getting through the course and winning the medal. Anybody can do it if I can do it because just run and walk, enjoy the craic along the way. It can be hard at times but you have to dig deep along the way too," she added.
Both sisters are in their late forties and they started running marathons in 2015 before embarking on the World Major Marathon series two years later. They were originally meant to take part in the Tokyo marathon a few years ago but Covid hit. Now they have the chance to run in the famous race - finally.