Kildare clan compete for Ireland's Fittest Family title
Hilliard family with mentor Andrew Trimble
A Kildare family will feature in this weekend’s quarter-final, of Ireland’s Fittest Family.
The Hilliard family will be competing in the wilds of Hell and Back, Kilruddery Co Wicklow, under the tutelage of Andrew Trimble.
The Hilliards are one of three families battling it out this Sunday on RTE 1 at 6.30pm for one of the six places up for grabs in the semi-finals at Drogheda Port.
The local family, featuring Dad Mel and his three daughters Alannah, Ellen and Julia, enjoy the outdoors, whether it be running, trekking, taking to trails, or sea swimming and have been involved with sporting clubs in Newbridge.
Mel is 56 and the Dad of the family. He has been involved in athletics from a young age. He spent four years on an athletics scholarship at Iona College, New Rochelle, in the US. As well as competing at master's level, he's been registrar, secretary and chairperson of Metropolitan Harriers and St. Brigids Athletic Club (MSB A.C.).
Eldest daughter Alannah is 27 years old and works as a primary school teacher. She has played Gaelic football for her local club, Sarfields, and run a half-marathon.
25-year-old Julia competed numerous times in the secondary school volleyball All-Ireland championship finals. She has also played volleyball for her local club in Newbridge and has run a half-marathon while in Vancouver, Canada.
Youngest daughter Ellen is 23 and loves running and the gym. She once captained her secondary school team to win the All-Ireland volleyball championship and played volleyball for the local volleyball club in Newbridge.
The Hilliards will face off against Michael Darragh MacAuley’s family from Cork and Donnacha O’Callaghan’s Linehan family from Cork.
This year, the competition returns to The Bog - but instead of a time trial, the families will be racing each other in Battle of the Bog. Two members of each family have to battle against the other families through the sticky course - before releasing the other two family members to do the same.
Next, they must take on our Time Trial – All Tyred Out. This is a brutal uphill relay over an unrelenting series of tyre obstacles.
With the scores of the first two events combined, the highest-scoring family will go through to the next round, and the two families at the bottom have to face off in our eliminator for another spot in the semi-finals.
