Three local Boston Scientific employees are swapping the comfort of their day jobs for a gruelling half Ironman in France this June, all in aid of the National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI ) — and they’re hoping Galway will get behind them.
Conor White, Daire Grant, and Jochem van der Kooij have set themselves a fundraising target of €5,000 for NBCRI, the Galway-based charity that funds personalised medication and treatment options for breast cancer patients, and which has been named Boston Scientific’s charity for 2025/2026. The NBCRI is a national charity that funds a comprehensive research programme at the University of Galway.
The idea hatched last October when the group decided they wanted to do something that could help raise funds and six months later, Conor, Daire, and Jochem are into the final weeks of preparation for an Ironman 70.3 event in Nice, France, where they will tackle the arduous feat of a 1.9km swim, a 90km cycle, and a half-marathon between them as a relay team.
“I think it’s the ultimate push,” Daire outlines. “It’s a challenge. There’s probably things you could do that are a bit easier, but this is a proper race against people who are going to be stronger as well.
“It’s really trying to push yourself over your comfort zone a little bit and aim for something that is a stretch,” he adds.
A balancing act
Conor, who will take on the 1.9km swim, was landed with a reality check at the start of the year.
“I thought I could swim,” he jokes. “I got a few lessons in January to touch it up a bit. But when I went in January she said, ‘you can’t swim, you have an awful lot of work to do'”.
He has been swimming at least twice a week since, mixing between technical, endurance, and recovery sessions.
Daire has drawn the 90km bike leg. He says that the first 45km of the route is “pretty much climbing”. That being said, he is targeting a time of around three hours.
Like most cyclists in this country, he has done the bulk of his training indoors, only venturing out on the road in recent weeks as the weather has turned.
“Irish weather is not really the best for going outside. All my training has been pretty much on the Turbo Trainer over the winter,” outlines Daire.
The team’s runner, Jochem, hopes to close the show with a sub-90 minute half-marathon (21.1km ).
“Geez, I probably have the easiest bit of it,” says Jochem, who is balancing training with only recently becoming a first-time father. “Like for Conor, there’s no way he can stop. I can just take a break, but the other lads have to keep going.”
The lads collectively admit that the toughest part of preparation has been the balancing act of training, work, and family time. But they believe that it’s “important that we take this seriously”.
“We’re doing this on behalf of the charity, and we’re trying to raise money first, so I think it’s important that we take it seriously,” Conor says.
Despite the strenuous training, the camaraderie and team spirit has made the challenge less daunting, and has kept motivation high as no one wants to let each other down.
“It’s definitely not as daunting, and we can check in with each other and see how are we getting on. It is our first big event like this, and it’s really nice to do it in a group and as a relay.”
That, and a motto of “if it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen”, has ensured complete discipline during their training and preparation.
For a great cause
“So far, we’re getting great support, and then we are hoping, just before the event and maybe after the event, that we can get one more push and try and get as much funding as we can,” Conor outlines.
NBCRI, based at University Hospital Galway, funds research into personalised breast cancer treatments — work that has a direct impact on patients across the west of Ireland and beyond.
“A lot of the stuff that they do goes across the globe. They’re based here in Galway, but it has a direct impact on patients. So, the more funding they get, the more research they can do, and then the more patient outcomes they can change,” the lads explain.
For the team, that is what makes the training worth it. On the tough training days, they remind themselves where the money is actually going.
The team has set up a GoFundMe page and is appealing to the Galway public to get behind them ahead of the June event. To donate, visit the team’s GoFundMe page at https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/therapydevelopment25.
