Two brothers making the dash from Dublin to Donegal for Macmillan

“There will always be competition between us, we are recording our times on our phones which records speeds and times and currently I am winning,” says Aaron, laughing profusely.

“I have done more running than my brother in the past but, he is more definitely more physically fit than me, I’m sure he’ll catch up,” he joked.

“Our mum is on the phone to us telling us that we’re mad, so it has all been a bit crazy.

“We’ve had to calm her down and explain that we are taking it seriously by training for it.

“And obviously now, all our aunties are texting us wishing us good luck, so it’s all quite exciting.”

Meet Aaron, one-half of the Martin brothers, the other Josh, who will both run 215km from Dublin to Donegal Town in May across seven days all for Macmillan cancer.

The two brothers, who are originally from Birmingham, have strong Donegal roots through their mother, Geraldine Wright, who herself is originally from Fintown but now living in Convoy after moving back from the UK.

“It was actually my brother that came up with the idea, we have both done running in the past but he just loved the idea of running in Ireland.

“One of our cousins did an event over in Ireland and I think we just liked the idea even more, especially running through rural parts of the country,” Aaron added.

“We will finish the run in Donegal because that is the main place where we spent in Ireland during the summer holidays, that is where our family is.

“And we are starting from Dublin because it’s such a well-known place.”

Aaron, 24, and Josh, 20, aim to start the run for Macmillan at around 10am on May 30, continuing their journey to the North-West over the course of seven days – running around 30km a day – finishing on June 6.

The boys are dedicating the run to their late grandfather, John Martin, who passed away from the disease almost seven years ago, while also remembering Robert Martin and Lawrence Teague, who also lost their battle with cancer in recent years.

“My grandfather passed away in 2012, who we would have been quite close to, while Robert (Martin), who is our uncle, died late last year and he was in a Macmillan hospice right at the end.

“And Lawrence Teague, who is my partner’s grandad, who passed away in 2017.”

Despite being over five months from the event, Aaron admitted that there were no nerves quite yet but he was excited about the challenge in front of them.

“As I’ve said, it is all getting very real from our point of view, but there are no nerves yet, as soon as we started to tell everyone we knew this was it, there was no going back.

“But I’m sure when it gets closer to the time the nerves will start to kick in.”

Aaron and Josh have set-up a JustGiving Page here, with all donations being going to Macmillan Cancer Support.

You can also keep an eye on the boy’s progress on their Home to Donegal Instagram page here.