FeaturesHeadline News

Marathon Man – Robert Burke does his bit for Frontline workers this Saturday

Robert Burke [2-0] is literally is literally going to put in a marathon effort for charity this weekend.

To say Burke is doing ‘his bit’ come Saturday is an understatement as the Pete Taylor trained fighter plans to complete a marathon for the first time.

The super middleweight, whose two pro wins to date have come on the road, is going to run 26 miles in a bid to raise money for front-line workers in Beaumont Hospital.

Covering 26 miles would normally mean breaking social distancing guidelines, but Burke has found a solution.

The former Crumlin amateur will run around his local field no fewer than 74 times to complete 42.2kms.

“I decided to do the full marathon for the Frontline workers in Beaumont hospital. Running was one the only training sessions I could do with all boxing was cancelled, so I thought I could use it to bring something good out of a bad situation,” he explains to Irish-boxing.com before getting into the details.

“I’m running 42.2 km around a field on the top of my road in Kilmore West . One Lap of the field is .57 of a Kilometre so I’ll be running around it 74 times this Saturday.

Burke is hoping to raise 5000e for his efforts and explains how people can donate.

“The Go Fund me is at 1500 at the moment. Im hoping to raise 5000 or as near to it as I can. People can donate there [https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-out-the-frontline-workers?utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3uYQa6hvmD8xJ_IbnFAEQwtjcR5GMoNTRIDjkwIERO2lpLW9htvOLQqzw].”

People may be forgiven for forgetting about Burke. He debuted a week after exiting the National Elites last year in Hungry, fought abroad again soon after, but has yet to fight at home.

An Irish debut date was set for this month only for that to be cut down by the current pandemic.

It’s been a frustrating start for the Boxing Ireland fighter, but he is determined to remain positive.

“There was supposed to be a Celtic Clash in Belfast the 9th of May. I was told I’d be on that, but with what’s going on it was cancelled

“I had a few setbacks last year that put my home debut on hold. Its been very frustrating but I just have to keep positive and use this time as best as I can. I am using it to prepare an make sure I’m ready for when the time is right to get back in the ring.”

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

x