Ed taking on a marathon challenge for ‘absolute legend’ Zoe
David and Siobhán Cryan with daughter Zoe. Pic: Gerard O’Loughlin
A County Roscommon man is planning to run more than 830 miles for the Zoe Cryan Trust.
Elite long distance athlete Ed Payne from Tulsk is asking people to come out and join him on his runs. The challenge will see Ed running more than one marathon a day, and some days even more than two.
He will start his marathon task on Sunday, September 20th in Leitrim and hopes to complete the challenge in a record breaking 15 days aiming to raise €5.5k for the Castleplunkett girl, with thousands of euro already being donated.
He recently won a gruelling 268 mile race along the length of England’s mountainous Pennine Way, and says he is looking forward to beginning the fundraising campaign.
“I hope you come on and enjoy it and try to be part of it,” Ed said. “I cannot wait.”
Speaking to the Herald, the Tulsk man said that preparations were going well and that the logistics for the challenge were being finalised by him and his wife Jennifer.
“We’re finding suitable and safe routes. It wouldn’t be happening without Jennifer,” he said.
Ed also praised the Cryan family, saying theirs was a fantastic cause.
“Zoe is an absolute legend. Once her name was mentioned, it was decision made,” he said.
The challenge will start in County Leitrim and “it will be two marathons that day”. The challenge will finish in County Roscommon on October 4th, in what is certain to be a colossal undertaking and a remarkable achievement.
“I will have to run three marathons on two of the fifteen days. On those days we just have to keep moving and I hope people will come out and run with me. I will be wearing a tracker and it will make my miles clip past quicker if I have someone to talk to. The more the merrier, I would be delighted to see people,” he said, adding that he hopes his sons, Ben and Aaron, will also join him on some of the days.
“That is the plan to do it in 15 days but the most important thing is to raise money for a great cause, so if it takes me two months to do it, that won’t bother me. Whatever else we will be having a lot of fun and banter along the way.”
The Zoe Cryan Trust is delighted with the response so far to the marathon fundraiser.
Zoe, who will turn 12 this month, has faced a number of significant health challenges, spending the first year of her life in the Coombe Hospital and the majority of her second year in Crumlin Children’s Hospital. She has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, which for her affects different parts of her body. The main two areas impacted are her motor function and oral motor function. She cannot walk independently, and her ability to chew and swallow food safely has also been affected.
Until 2023 she was peg-fed, but over the years she has made huge progress with the help of Nancy Kalamaskas, a US feeding specialist who also works in Ireland.
“Honestly, I don't think there's anybody like her,” said Zoe’s mother, Siobhan.
Zoe has seen her twice in the last two years, once in 2024 and 2026, and it was discovered that she was quite severely tongue-tied with a jaw restriction. The family have also worked with a “fabulous dentist” in Kilkenny, who has also taken on Zoe's case.
Nancy put Zoe’s parents, Siobhan and David, in touch with a surgeon in Texas, who could perform non-invasive surgery. This operation, which costs €20,000, would avoid breaking her jaw.
After being repeatedly told no to a virtual meeting, Siobhan chanced her arm and messaged the surgeon herself. “I just reached out to himself online on Instagram, and I was like, 'this is our story. This lady, you know her. She recommended you. She said to contact you'.”
The surgeon responded, and once he looked at Zoe's 3D images, he agreed to see her and work with her. The family are currently looking to link with an Irish surgeon to assist them and Siobhan would love to see the operation happen in the next 24 months.
Over the past 12 years, the journey for Zoe and the Cryans has been a tough one with many battles for services and treatments. “It's our duty, not just as parents but advocates, to make sure we can get the best for her, because it's not going to be easy, and no one's going to come to your door and say, 'hey, listen, you know, we notice there's no drop on the path there, will we put in one for you?'
“So when someone comes to you and says, 'Can we do this? Or would you be okay with that?'. It's very humbling and we never say no because it's not about us, it's about Zoe and it's about her future.”
This spirit was how the trust started, when a group of Garda colleagues that David worked with in Dublin cycled from the Brideswell Garda Station in Dublin to the Brideswell Garda Station in Cork, a 280-kilometre cycle. In previous years the group had chosen different charities and then they approached Siobhan and David about raising money for Zoe.
The cycle got such immense support and so the Zoe Cryan Trust Fund was born. Any money raised for Zoe has gone directly into the trust, which is used for her therapies and for any specialised equipment.
•To donate visit, the .
