{"id":671548,"date":"2026-11-01T07:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T07:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/671548\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T07:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T07:36:11","slug":"irelands-fittest-family-returns-meet-tonights-competitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/671548\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland’s Fittest Family returns: Meet tonight’s competitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland’s Fittest Family returns to our screens this Sunday with more thrills, more fierce competition and an exciting brand new location thrown into the mix.<\/p>\n

Now in its 14th season, the beloved show is back with coaches Anna Geary, Donncha O’Callaghan, Davy Fitzgerald, Ellen Keane, Michael Darragh MacAuley and reigning champion Andrew Trimble.<\/p>\n

With an exciting shake-up to the format, adrenaline-pumping challenges, and stunning new locations, this promises to be the most competitive series of Ireland’s Fittest Family yet.<\/p>\n

Kicking off in the historic Haulbowline Navy Base, the Heats will unfold over three weeks. Each week, two coaches will go head-to-head, each with two families.<\/p>\n

This week it’s the turn of Anna Geary and last year\u2019s champ Andrew Trimble.<\/p>\n

Anna’s Teams<\/p>\n

The McCourts from Cork<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Dad Morgan, 57, is a Dublin native who has been living in Cork for 19 years with his family. He’s a firm fitness fan, and does triathlons, surfing, kite surfing and has represented Ireland in University Rugby as a medical student. He is a Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon working in CUH.<\/p>\n

Daughter Lauren does athletics (400m) and has represented Ireland on numerous occasions as a juvenile athlete. She trains six days a week and still competes. Lauren studied a bachelors in English (with a passion for creative writing) before pursuing a career in Medicine. She is currently a second year medical student in UL.<\/p>\n

Son Callum plays hockey and has been on an Irish U18 panel. He is studying Electrical Engineering in Dublin. He recently volunteered at a sports camp in Toronto Canada for three months. Son Harry also plays hockey and has made his first debut with the Irish U18 hockey team this April. Harry is in 5th year of secondary school and hopes to pursue a career in finance.<\/p>\n

The Tierneys from Galway<\/p>\n

\"Tierney<\/p>\n

Dad Niall, 47, is a builder and used to play hurling and soccer. Now he plays golf and goes dancing to keep fit.<\/p>\n

Daughter Ella is 15 and in 2nd year in secondary school. She plays camogie, athletics and loves swimming. Son Colm is 17 and in 5th year in secondary school. He plays hurling for his local club and basketball and volleyball for school.<\/p>\n

Niall competes with his brother Tom, 42, who is a contract manager for KMG mechanical services. He played hurling all his life for his club and is still actively involved. His hobbies are golf and swimming and he likes to keep fit. Tom’s son Tom \u00d3g, 7, is IFF\u2019s biggest fan and is devastated he\u2019s not old enough to compete just yet!<\/p>\n

Andrew’s Teams<\/p>\n

The \u00d3 Cathasaigh’s from Dublin<\/p>\n

\"O<\/p>\n

Dad Conor, 58, is a software engineer working in the financial sector. He played a lot of rugby and soccer when he was younger and when his children were growing up, he became very heavily involved in coaching hurling for their club Kilmacud Crokes. Conor recently made his hurling debut at the age of 54!<\/p>\n

Daughter R\u00f3is\u00edn, 22, is in final year of college and is hoping to graduate as a primary school teacher in the next few weeks. R\u00f3is\u00edn plays senior camogie with Kimacud Crokes and is also a member of the Dublin Senior Camogie panel. Last year she won an U23 All-Ireland medal and was also Player of the Match!<\/p>\n

Son Tadhg, 19, is in first year of engineering in UCD and is also an avid hurler. He plays for Kilmacud Crokes and also the UCD Freshers team.<\/p>\n

Son Cian, 24, is a civil engineer and “according to my mother I’m the wisest sibling”, he says. Cian plays senior hurling for Kilmacud Crokes and is a member of the Dublin Senior Hurling panel<\/p>\n

The McGilligan’s from Derry<\/p>\n

\"McGilligan<\/p>\n

Dad Seamus, 57, is a bathroom fitter and plumber who loves to be active. He ran his first marathon for his 50th birthday and recently competed in his first HYROX competition with his son Ciaran. He is also the Chairman of the local Camogie Club.<\/p>\n

Daughter Erin, 28, is a youth support worker in an outdoor learning service. She plays camogie, Gaelic football and has also started HYROX. She recently won “the double” with her club winning the intermediate camogie championship and the junior Gaelic football championship in the same season. Erin initially thought it was a joke that they had been signed up but is delighted now!<\/p>\n

Daughter Annie, 24, signed the family up and is very excited! She is also a Gaelic football and camogie player as well as being a full time coach\/personal trainer. She was on both teams with Erin that won “the double” in 2023. Annie is also very good at walking on her hands!<\/p>\n

Son Ciaran, 31, is a primary school teacher and has 2 kids of his own. He is into GAA, golf and has recently gotten into road running and HYROX. He once did 1000 burpees in a day for charity!<\/p>\n

Ireland’s Fittest Family returns on RT\u00c9 One and RT\u00c9 Player on Sunday 1 November at 6.30pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland’s Fittest Family returns to our screens this Sunday with more thrills, more fierce competition and an exciting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-671548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}