{"id":613944,"date":"2026-09-04T06:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613944\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T06:20:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:20:22","slug":"ray-darcy-exercise-helped-to-keep-me-sane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613944\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray D’Arcy: Exercise helped to keep me sane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ray D\u2019Arcy turned 62 on Tuesday, September 1. It\u2019s a perfect month to start something new, fitness-wise, he says, rather than struggling to incorporate a fresh habit in January, when \u201cthe weather is crap. You don\u2019t feel great\u201d.<\/p>\n

September, with its still-bright mornings, longish evenings, and return to routine, makes more sense for a reset. But there is no one-size-fits-all prescription, the broadcaster says, and finding an activity \u201cthat suits\u201d is key.<\/p>\n

Running might not be a bad choice, and if D\u2019Arcy can manage 100 meters in 18.1 seconds, as he so memorably documented on his eponymous podcast back in May, who knows \u2014 you might surprise yourself at what you can achieve.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Arcy has a knack for making exercise seem fun, rather than a chore, and finds inspiration everywhere. He lives near \u2018Heartbreak Hill\u2019, the brutal 2km incline that runners hit around 7km from the Dublin Marathon finish line. It\u2019s become an annual tradition that he and his family head to the sidelines to shout words of encouragement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a time we would\u2019ve brought numerous boxes of Jaffa Cakes,\u201d he says, \u201cbut nobody wants Jaffa Cakes anymore, so we stopped doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some years ago, they were in situ earlier than usual and caught the leading pack coming through. D\u2019Arcy remembers being taken aback by just how fast they were running. \u201cI thought, \u2018Could I even keep up with them for 100 yards?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April this year, that thought resurfaced in D\u2019Arcy\u2019s mind when Kenyan Sabastian Sawe made athletics history at the London Marathon by becoming the first person to run a marathon in under two hours. One quick calculation later, and D\u2019Arcy had hatched a plan to match Sawe\u2019s 100m average 17-second pace.<\/p>\n

Naturally, he shared this ambition with his Ray D\u2019Arcy Daily podcast audience, and sought advice from Olympians Derval O\u2019Rourke and Sonia O\u2019Sullivan (who themselves gave it a blast, clocking in at 15 and 18.1 seconds respectively). While the elite athletes didn\u2019t hold out much hope of D\u2019Arcy running the distance in under 25 seconds, let alone equalling Sawe\u2019s time, they were generous with their tips (\u201cget tall and lean forward a little bit\u201d).<\/p>\n

Undaunted, the Kildare man gave it a shot, bringing his work wife (and actual wife), Jenny Kelly, along to UCD\u2019s running track to film his attempt at a Sawe-speed 100-metre pace for his audience. \u201cSo I didn\u2019t get the 17 seconds, it took me 18.41,\u201d says D\u2019Arcy, playing down his impressive result. \u201cBut it was good exercise, a good challenge, and a bit of a laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

And his listeners loved it.<\/p>\n

Hard yards\u00a0<\/p>\n

No one should be surprised by D\u2019Arcy\u2019s remarkable time because he puts in the hard yards consistently. Not only is his name synonymous with running in Ireland, he has also made the activity accessible to thousands of people down the years, and in the process raised huge sums for charity (during the pandemic, Ray\u2019s Marathon Challenge raised more than \u20ac1m for LauraLynn\u2019s children\u2019s hospice).<\/p>\n

Somewhat surprisingly, he came to running late in life. \u201cI was never a fan of running up until I was 40. In fact, I would slag it off,\u201d he admits, adding that he \u201cmainly played team sports up until I was 29, and in my 30s, I mainly cycled\u201d.<\/p>\n

His gr\u00e1 for running came about by accident. In 2003, despite having never learned to swim properly, he set himself the ambitious target of completing a triathlon before his 40th birthday.<\/p>\n

After intensive training, in which he realised \u201cyou have to leave your dignity at the door when you\u2019re learning\u201d, he successfully completed the mile sea-swim of the triathlon, then the cycle leg, finishing with a 10km run, which, he recalls \u201cwas the easiest part of it for me. That got me into running. I kept running after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only did he keep running, he became \u201cevangelistic\u201d about it, and in 2010, on his Today FM radio show, he came up with Run with Ray as a way of introducing people to a regular running practice, and then, in later years with RT\u00c9, joined forces with parkrun. <\/p>\n

\"RayRay D’Arcy has a knack for making exercise seem fun. Picture: Mary Browne<\/p>\n

D\u2019Arcy, who chats to me over Zoom from his holiday base in Co Waterford, has had a \u201cfantastic\u201d summer. \u201cUnbelievable,\u201d he says, while admitting his enjoyment of the glorious weather has been \u201ctinged with the thoughts of climate change. That\u2019s the only problem for me, but that\u2019s not to say I didn\u2019t get out and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s in Dublin, he runs 5km in UCD, near his home, and \u201ca lot of it is through woods, so it\u2019s very pleasant, and in the shade, so that made it easier\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Waterford, he and Jenny have enjoyed yoga \u201coutside, looking out at the sea\u201d and sea swimming.<\/p>\n

Before starting his daily podcast last year, he was an early morning runner, but his new schedule means he works for four or five hours from a 7.30am start, takes an extended lunch break into which he squeezes his run, then returns to his desk to do \u201ca pre-record or an edit\u201d afterwards.<\/p>\n

Blindsided<\/p>\n

D\u2019Arcy was, he says, blindsided by the state broadcaster\u2019s abrupt ending of his contract in October last year, but he\u2019s looking forward, not back, as he builds a new listenership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to keep reminding myself that it\u2019s a start-up,\u201d he says of Ray D\u2019Arcy Daily, which features former colleagues Kelly and Mairead Ronan, along with comedian Bernard O\u2019Shea and child psychotherapist Colman Noctor. He\u2019s very aware they\u2019re \u201cstarting from zero\u201d in what is a crowded space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is create something that\u2019s new \u2026 [that\u2019s] a little bit more personality-led than other ones.\u201d It\u2019s a challenge, but one he\u2019s up for, and the graft is paying off, albeit slowly. \u201cYou can sense that there are more people there, and the figures are healthy and on the right trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u2019Arcy has been a familiar face in Irish broadcasting since 1988, when the then 23-year-old began his career presenting RT\u00c9\u2019s teen lifestyle show, Jo Maxi. In 1998, he shifted gear into radio, helming the hugely successful Ray D\u2019Arcy Show on Today FM, before returning to the national broadcaster in 2015.<\/p>\n

He describes himself as \u201chardwired to worry\u201d. As a child, he\u2019d \u201cget physically sick before Christmas thinking that Santa wouldn\u2019t bring me anything\u201d but he\u2019s taken that negative and turned it into a positive by learning to control the controllables, which in broadcasting terms has meant learning about every aspect of the job and being able to anticipate problems before they happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been involved at every level. I was never happy to just walk in and take the brief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exercise, he says, \u201cis definitely not a chore\u201d and has \u201calways been\u201d the thing that helps him with headspace. He recalls one particularly full-on period when a crazy schedule meant he was doing a radio show by day and TV at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started cycling to work,\u201d he says, noting that it ultimately \u201ckept me sane\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it needs explaining, really,\u201d he adds of exercise in general. \u201cAs human beings, we\u2019re built to move and to be outside. When you don\u2019t do that, then it\u2019s bound to affect you negatively.\u201d<\/p>\n

His weekly routine consists of a 5km run Sunday to Friday, with Saturday off, and a 20-minute gym routine of yoga poses, weights, press-ups and balance exercises four or five times a week. He walks too, and \u201cif I\u2019m doing something and I don\u2019t need the car, I\u2019d always cycle\u201d.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not an exercise or running obsessive, however. \u201cI\u2019m not relaxed about a lot of things, but when it comes to running, I am pretty relaxed about it\u201d \u2014 and has long ago ditched the fitness tracker, and any pressure to achieve PBs, preferring instead to listen to his body and, of late, the niggles that inevitably accompany ageing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat my body said to me was, \u2018If you want to run, continue running. Maybe marathons aren\u2019t for you\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He now sticks to mainly 5km runs, with \u201ca couple of half-marathons a year\u201d and that works for him.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s particularly looking forward to LauraLynn\u2019s 5k and 10k event in Leopardstown in October, not least because he\u2019s been involved in fundraising for the charity for years, having seen a TV interview in which founders Jane and Brendan McKenna told their daughters\u2019 story.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, that if the state were doing its job, we wouldn\u2019t need to do all these events,\u201d D\u2019Arcy says, noting that LauraLynn finally began to receive government funding in 2021.<\/p>\n

A huge part of D\u2019Arcy\u2019s appeal is his everyman quality. In him, we see ourselves.<\/p>\n

He gives us the ability to think, \u2018Well, maybe I could\u2026.\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from not running at all for most of my life to becoming known for it, which is a bit embarrassing in a way, because people say, \u2018Oh, you run\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I do, but I\u2019m not a runner,\u201d D\u2019Arcy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people see that in me, so they think \u2018if he can do it, anybody can do it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n

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