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Eileen takes on Peru challenge for charity  By
Trevor O’Sullivan
A 59-year-old woman is about to defy her age by trekking across the Inca
Trail to the lost city of Machu Picchu in Peru.
And Eileen McGowan’s secret to overcoming the arduous task?
A good Irish diet!
Kilkenny native Eileen said: “I have a fairly healthy diet I just
stick to a very basic diet. I don’t eat any junk food.”
“It’s just a very plain diet like I was brought up with
in Ireland.”
“I am also a regular walker. Ten miles is about the longest I have
done but I do short walks as well.”
Eileen is taking on the challenge to raise vital funds for the charity
Action Medical Research.
And Eileen, who now lives in Kingsbury in north-west London, has always
enjoyed the outdoor life.
She grew up in a small rural village in Kilkenny and always adored farm
life and the outdoors.
But it took a trip to Lourdes to inject her with the vitality to put her
body to the ultimate test.
She said: “I was very impressed one year when I was in Lourdes as
a volunteer and there was one nun with us from Dublin.
“We were wheeling this wheelchair up a big hill and it was hard
work.”
“She (the nun) was probably in her 60s at the time and she seemed as
fit as any of us.”
“But I still said to her: ‘Look you can’t be doing
that, we will do it for you’ and her response was firm but assured.”
“Her retort was: ‘Don’t be so silly, I ran a Dublin
marathon.’ So I thought well if she can do it so can I.”
“I eventually saw an ad in a Catholic publication and applied
to do the marathon for the Catholic Children’s Association.”
“Then I started training myself and it all stemmed from there.”
Since then Eileen has run two London marathons and the McGowan zeal for
a challenge seems to run in the genes.
Her daughter Emma ran both London marathons with her and recently completed
the New York marathon on her own.
Eileen’s sister will join her along with a friend on the mammoth
Inca Trail which was recently included in the new list of the Seven Wonders
of the World.
Her challenge takes place between October 11-20 and she needs to raise
£3,000.
To help Eileen’s cause sponsor her online at www.action.org.uk/~eileenmcgowan48 |
