A Northern Irish man will be running tomorrow’s La Valette Marathon in a bid to raise suicide awareness… by running the 42.2km with a full-size ironing board and iron in tow.
Known as the Portrush IRONman, Andy Ferrer always dreamt of running a full marathon and in 2010, he crossed the finish line at the Belfast Marathon to achieve his life-long goal.
Ferrer kept up his marathon passion until 2012 when he broke his back. Doctors told him that he may never run again.
Yet, in 2014, Ferrer was back on the track, running marathons with no training and chugging a pint before each run, he said.
“I also have a few pints the night before,” he laughed.
However, in 2016 Ferrer tragically lost his girlfriend to suicide, only months before he planned to propose to her at the finish line of the London Marathon in 2017.
Instead of cancelling that event, Ferrer grabbed an ironing board and iron, slung them on his back and ran the marathon in an effort to raise suicide awareness.
Ferrer and his partner Wilma were fans of “extreme ironing”, a quirky hobby which sees people lug an ironing board to scenic and off-beaten places to take a photo of themselves, as if they are stopping for a quick ironing break.
“I love ironing,” he said. “You can ask anyone, I spent 10 years in the army and I love ironing.”
“I even iron my underwear,” he said as described his usual Sunday: sipping a pint as he watches TV and irons the day away.
Since then, Ferrer has become known as the Portrush IRONman as he carries an ironing board with an iron clamped to it in his hands, an experience he described as “painful beyond belief.”
“It’s as if someone twisted my fingers… you have to physically force them open.”
Gripping the four-centimetre lip that lines the underside of an ironing board, Ferrer must switch hands every 100 metres or so to reduce the cramping and pain.
Not only is it painful as fingers start cramping past the 12-mile mark (19.3km), but it also brings along fringe complications such as being unable to open water battles during the marathon.
Humble to the impact he has, Ferrer said that he was shocked when he was asked to do inspirational speeches as “I’m just Andy from Ireland”. Yet, as he continues to carry his ironing board – always trying to use the same one – he keeps looking forward to the people he can help.
“I’ve had two people tell me that they wouldn’t be here today without me,” he said.
On Sunday, Ferrer will down a pint and carry his ironing board across Malta as part of the Intersport La Valette Malta Marathon, a journey that he expects will take him six hours to run the 42km distance.
Ferrer said that his trip to the island would not have been possible without radio presenter Trudy Kerr who organised the trip, the AX Hotel Group who gave him free accommodation, Air Malta who gave him free flights and Richmond Foundation who approached him to join the marathon.