Navan Garda Ernie’s Marathon 'buzz' with Colin and Emma

A NAVAN garda has told of the 'incredible buzz' of running the Dublin City Marathon beside Hollywood actor Colin Farrell.

Ernie Frazer was one of four members of the Garda Technical Unit to flank the Penguin star as he ran the 26 mile route to raise funds for Debra Ireland.

Colin pushed his close friend Emma Fogarty for the last four kilometers of the race, a kilometer for every decade she has lived with the painful condition.

Emma is Ireland's oldest survivor of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) which is also called Butterfly Skin.

Ernie, from Johnstown, Navan and his colleagues appeared in pictures beside Colin Farrell in news outlets across the world after the race.

The Detective Garda ran the Dublin City Marathon last year for the first time and completed his second marathon in Berlin last month.

He ran alongside colleagues Detective Gardai Ian Redican and Barry Duggan and Detective Sgt Tom Power after Det Garda Redican received a call asking if any of the members of the Garda Athletic Club who were training for the marathon would be interested in running alongside Colin Farrell as an extra layer of security.

"It was such a buzz, it was incredible," said Ernie on Monday.

"I've run two marathons and none of us were running to break any kind of records so I was only delighted to get the opportunity to do it.

"We were asked a few weeks ago to do it but we really didn't know anything else about it until we met up with Colin a few days before the marathon when he asked us what the plan was on the day.

"We had heard he was hoping to run the marathon in 4 hours 15 minutes and we thought that's grand, that's a time we can all manage.

"He was great craic and when we met him on the day of the race, he was just really anxious to get going. He was fantastic."

Ernie wore a tracker for the race to ensure gardai knew where Colin and the team were at all times but there was never any threat to the star.

"The atmosphere was incredible and everyone was extremely respectful of Colin. Everyone was shouting encouragement but everyone gave him space in the race, no-one was bothering him like that.

"Colin was chatting about everything from growing up in Castleknock to just having the craic.

"He talked about his friend Emma a lot and how she was inspirational. When we crossed the finish line, he said it was an amazing experience that he would never forget."

Ernie's children, Anna (24), Olivia (18), Matthew (15) and Louisa (12) were also delighted when they got a wave from the Golden Globe winner at Castleknock.

"They are huge fans so Matthew was delighted he could tell his Torro United team mates about the experience and Louisa plays for Walterstown so I'd say she is loving that her dad ran with Colin Farrell.

"He signed my vest at the start of the race and I've a few pictures as well. It's definitely a once in a lifetime experience I was delighted to be involved in."

A total of €774,000 has been raised for Debra Ireland and you can still donate at debra.ie