Irish Forrest Gump home after around-world run

An endurance runner dubbed Ireland’s answer to Forrest Gump has arrived home after an epic four-year 50,000-kilometre run around the world.

Former construction worker Tony Mangan has been recreating the famous sequence from the Oscar-winning movie when the character played by Tom Hanks jumps off his porch for a “little run” and simply keeps going and crisscrosses America.

The 57-year-old Dubliner set off on his solitary east-west run across five continents, six deserts and 41 countries in October 2010 after running a home-town race.

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Now Mangan is back on Irish soil, he hopes the exploits will continue after he invited people to join him on stretches of a 45 day 1,600km circuit of the country, just as people joined Forrest Gump.

He said: “...I’m a slow runner so anybody can run with me for as many days as they want, just come out and run – I didn’t want it to turn into a Forrest Gump session but it could well do”.

Mangan, from the Liberties in Dublin, was greeted by about 50 friends and family at Dublin Port on Saturday on his return.

Mangan set off for a full Irish breakfast at a nearby truck stop before hitting the tarmac again.

Mangan estimates the trip cost about E40,000 including a redundancy payout, sponsorship from ultra-marathon race organiser Richard Donovan and the generosity of strangers.

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