Sight loss no barrier to marathon man Paul

A 43-year-old Athenry man who lost most of his eyesight six years ago due to a rare genetic condition, is living proof that loss of vision is no barrier to sporting achevement – after completing the recent Dublin City Marathon in impressive time.

More importantly, this was Paul Treacy’s third marathon in the last six months — all finished in under four hours.

It was back during Christmas of 2019, on a trip to Manchester, that Paul first began to notice a problem with his vision. It continued to deteriorate over the next six to eight weeks until he had lost 85 to 90% of his eyesight.

He was eventually diagnosed with Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, a rare genetic condition which affects about one in every 80,000 people.

“Because it’s genetic, it runs in my mother’s side of the family, we now know that my sisters and cousins on that side all carry this gene, but thankfully I’m the only one who’s ever lost vision,” he said.

“It took me six months to the guts of a year to get an official diagnosis. Doctors in Galway, and even in most of Ireland had never really come across this before”.

Paul left Dublin after completing the run in 3:48 hours. “It’s actually my fifth marathon since I lost my eyesight, but I did three in the last six months,” he said.

In May of this year, he ran the Belfast City Marathon, followed by the Portumna Forest Marathon the following month.

Surprisingly, Paul was not always an avid runner, his passion for the sport only really taking hold after his diagnosis.

“It’s all down to my coach, Ger Redmond, he encouraged me from the beginning,” he said. “I first got in contact with him after listening to him on a podcast, after which I messaged him, explaining my story.”

Ger is the founder of Coolock Running Club in Dublin and Paul first began working with him two years ago.

“I’m beyond grateful for all he has done. He’s been a major help to me, not just as a coach but he’s also become a great friend of mine.”

Preparing to run a marathon is a difficult task for anyone, but for Paul, his vision loss posed a few added difficulties.

“There are challenges involved when you don’t have much eyesight, so the way I work around it is I do most of my runs on quiet roads around 4 o’clock in the morning when I barely ever meet any cars. With the 10% I have I’m able to navigate by following the line of the side of the road.

“Another thing which has been a big help, they built a state-of-the-art running track in Athenry recently, where I do all my speed work.”

Paul has no intentions of slowing down after his recent success, his plan being to run a sub 3:30 marathon as well as his first ultramarathon, all in 2025.

Pictured: Paul Treacy (arm raised, in blue and white singlet) completing the Dublin City Marathon.