Cillian Fleming works at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine in Cork and happens to be a world-class ultra marathon runner. In August 2024, he completed the Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (TDS) – a gruelling ultra marathon across the Alps, and raised over €6,300 for the Crann Centre. He placed 56th out of over 1,100 finishers – not to mention a couple hundred who didn’t manage to finish this brutal race.
Cillian recently returned to the Crann Centre as part of a volunteering day with Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. We took the opportunity to chat to him about his motivation and experience fundraising to support Crann’s 2Generation services for children and adults and their families.
Introduce yourself and tell me what you did to support Crann?
My name is Cillian Fleming. I’m from Cork. I ran an ultra marathon in aid of the Crann Centre. So the ultra marathon was 153 kilometres with 9,500 metres of elevation gain, across the French Alps. It started in Italy and finished in France and as a group, we managed to raise €6,380.00 in aid of the Crann Centre.
What made you choose Crann to fundraise for?
So the CSR group at work, have a town hall twice a year. I was actually already signed up for the race, but at the summer town hall, the CSR Group presented on the Crann Centre and it was the first time I heard of the Crann Centre, to be honest, and I was just blown away by learning what you do and so then I reached out to Debbie and Shereen and we organised the visit where I met you all, and I was absolutely blown away by how devoted you are here, and how amazing the work that you do and also learning about everything that you do. The one thing that I was actually telling people, this kitchenette (the Independent Living Zone) you built where you walk in and you see the adaptive side of it, and it’s just have such a normal kitchen otherwise. When I left, I was really motivated to do as much as I could to contribute.
How did you do your fundraising?
So we set up a JustGiving page and first I got it out to friends and family and put it up on my Instagram and to some of the running community in Ireland. Then the CSR group at work put it out as an e-mail to the site and we got it up on every screen around the site – it was everywhere. Basically it was just trying to get it out there to as many people as we could.
You’ve raised over €6,300. What do you hope this money achieve?
I know the Crann Centre do amazing work and I’m sure the funds will be put to great use. We take it for granted all the things we’re able to do so easily that other people can’t, like I’m lucky to be able to do these kinds of races and events, and it’s just to be able to help people with disabilities have a better quality of life, which is what the Crann Centre is really good at. Any investment into the centre; it’s big in size now and getting bigger all the time; so I think anything to increase the capabilities of the Crann Centre I’d be happy for the money to go there.
Not everybody is going to be able to run an ultra marathon to raise money. What advice would you give someone who’s considering doing anything like a bake sale or their next 5K in native Crann?
I’d say absolutely go for it because it’s extremely rewarding, it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, definitely. And it doesn’t matter what the event is like, you know, everyone’s challenge is different. So it could be walking 5K, running 5K, doing your first 10K. It could be anything. It could be doing 10 minutes of exercise a day for a month or whatever it is, I’d say anything that you can do to help the Crann Centre would be great because the funds are badly needed and will be put to great use.
The Crann Centre is supported by fundraising efforts like Cillian’s, but you don’t need to do an ultra marathon to raise vital supports to keep the services and supports at Crann working to support people living with neuro-physical disabilities and their family members. From bake sales to a 5K, Christmas jumper days or table quizzes, there are many fun and engaging ways to raise funds for Crann in your community. If you have an idea or want to discuss options, contact Evelyn at epower@cranncentre.ie for more information
