Some lives turn on a small decision made in middle age, when a man who has spent decades in one rhythm walks into a community hall and agrees to try something new. Billy McMahon and Eugene Tobin did exactly that, and in the years since, a publicly backed programme that began in Mayo has carried thousands of Irish men through the same quiet reckoning with their bodies, their isolation and their sense of what a life can still hold. Their stories, across Donegal and Waterford, show how ordinary companionship and patient coaching can loosen habits that years of work and worry had seemed to fix in
After Men on the Move, Donegal Dairy Farmer Sheds Three Stone and Swaps the Milking Parlour for the Open Road
He decided there was more to life than milking cows
Mark
Two men, two very different results. What ties Billy and Eugene together?
Mimi
Both say the exercise mattered, but they keep returning to the company. Billy valued meeting people outside farming; Eugene says older men often lack friends and the group let them talk, even about a cancer diagnosis.
Mark
Billy left farming entirely. Is that the programme's doing?
Luke
That's his own account. He credits it, but his children didn't want the farm and the family was debt free. Those factors are his, not the programme's, and he says himself not everyone could or should do what he did.
Mark
Eugene's numbers are striking: 18st to 13st and off medication.
Luke
Striking, but self-reported in a feature. The article doesn't say how his doctor handled the medication or whether the weight loss is all down to the programme.
Mimi
He does describe starting low and never being pushed, which seems central to why he stuck with it.
Mark
What about the programme's own evidence?
Luke
It's evaluated by the HSE and academic partners, and about 6,000 men have taken part. But the piece gives no outcome results, only the measurements taken at the start and after 12 weeks. We don't know what those showed.
Mimi
It did start from a real gap, a 2012 report on low participation by men in rural areas.
Mark
And now?
Mimi
It went online in lockdown and groups like Inniscarra in Cork are back training, with a September restart planned.
Il Polso
- Billy McMahon, a Donegal dairy farmer approaching fifty, lost three stone and then walked away from the farm entirely.
- Eugene Tobin shed five stone and came off medication for diabetes, cholesterol and heart disease, a change his doctors had hoped for but he had not expected.
- Covid lockdowns halted in-person sessions, pushing the programme online and forcing groups to find new ways to stay connected.
- The Men on the Move model has reached about 6,000 men since 2013, and HSE and Waterford IT are measuring whether the gains last.
- Groups are preparing to return, with Inniscarra restarting in September and the 5km celebration event waiting for restrictions to fully lift.
Some lives turn on a small decision made in middle age, when a man who has spent decades in one rhythm walks into a community hall and agrees to try something new. Billy McMahon and Eugene Tobin did exactly that, and in the years since, a publicly backed programme that began in Mayo has carried thousands of Irish men through the same quiet reckoning with their bodies, their isolation and their sense of what a life can still hold. Their stories, across Donegal and Waterford, show how ordinary companionship and patient coaching can loosen habits that years of work and worry had seemed to fix in place. The programme continues to be studied and is set to resume once lockdown lifts.
Billy McMahon now runs at six in the morning three days a week, and every Saturday he goes long. Six years ago he was a dairy farmer in Ramelton, close to fifty, when he joined a pilot exercise programme at Ray Community Centre in Donegal. The Men on the Move sessions, run with the HSE and Donegal Sports Partnership, cost him three stone and gave him a whole new circle of friends. Running, cycling and kayaking followed, and he learned to swim despite a lifelong fear of water. Fifteen months ago he left dairy farming. He and his wife Anne converted a van into a campervan and drove the Wild Atlantic Way, with him pedalling alongside. McMahon, who has known depression, says none of it would have happened without the programme.
His children had no interest in the farm, so he leased the land through Land Mobility. He gets on well with the man who took it over and is sometimes paid to work his old fields. He is candid that he could have kept farming for another decade, and that the family's freedom from debt made the change possible. What the twelve weeks gave him, he says, was a wider view of life and friends from his own area beyond the farm gate.
In Waterford, Eugene Tobin, a 62-year-old cinema manager from Dungarvan, tells a similar story. When he joined about five years ago he weighed roughly 18 stone and took tablets for diabetes, cholesterol and his heart. He now weighs 13 stone and no longer needs the medication. He walks ten miles most mornings. The instructors never pushed anyone past their limits, he says, and the group gave older men who often have few friends somewhere to talk, including after a cancer diagnosis. During lockdown he followed the online programme, and some members have since met up on their own.
The programme began in Mayo in 2013, spread to eight counties in 2016 and went national. It grew from a 2012 report showing that men in rural areas were barely taking part in sport. The free beginners' course offers twice-weekly group exercise, workshops, a health booklet, a pedometer, phone check-ins and a 5km celebration at the end. Participants are measured at the start and again after twelve weeks. In Cork, the Inniscarra group is back training and recently reached the final three of a community award. It breaks for summer and restarts in September, and local sports partnerships can provide details.
Billy McMahon now runs at 6am three mornings a week, and every Saturday he does a long run. Six years ago, the Ramelton man was a dairy farmer about to turn 50, signing up for a pilot exercise programme at Ray Community Centre in Donegal. Organised by Donegal Sports Partnership with the HSE in 2015, the Men on the Move sessions, indoors and out, cost him three stone and gave him what he calls a whole new social circle. He describes the experience as absolutely life-changing.
The changes kept coming. Running, cycling and kayaking became part of his routine, and he learned to swim despite a previous fear of water. Fifteen months ago he quit dairy farming. Last year he converted a van into a campervan. His wife, Anne, drives and he pedals, and together they completed the Wild Atlantic Way. McMahon, who has suffered from depression in the past, says none of it would have happened without the programme, and that he decided there was more to life than milking cows.
His son studied history and his daughter aerospace engineering, and neither wanted the farm. So McMahon leased the land through Land Mobility. He gets on well with the man who took it over, and he is sometimes paid to work his own former ground, spreading slurry and fertiliser and cutting hedges. He says he could have gone on farming for another ten years, but the family was debt free, which made the move possible. He doesn't claim it suits everyone. What the 12-week programme did, he says, was broaden his horizons, and he valued meeting people from his own area outside farming circles, as well as a trainer who nudged him past his limits.
These days he keeps busy with woodwork and charity work. He and Anne, a part-time vet, visited agricultural projects before leasing a farm in Rwanda, and they have links with a charity in Ethiopia. When Covid restrictions allow, those are the places they want to visit.
Eugene Tobin, a 62-year-old cinema manager from Dungarvan, tells a similar story. When he joined the Waterford Sports Partnership programme about five years ago, he weighed around 18st and was on medication for diabetes, cholesterol and his heart. He is now 13st and off the medication. He had been lethargic, snacking a lot and lacking motivation beyond work. Now he walks 10 miles six or seven mornings a week. Everyone started at a low level, he says, and the instructors never pushed anyone beyond what they could do. He also credits the group with giving older men, who often have few friends, a place to offload, including about something as serious as a cancer diagnosis. He did the online programme during lockdown, and some members have met up outside the group.
The programme began in Mayo in 2013 and spread to eight counties in 2016 before going nationwide. Mayo Sports Partnership sports co-ordinator Charlie Lambert says about 6,000 men have taken part. The HSE evaluates it with Waterford IT, IT Carlow and the Centre for Men's Health in Leeds. It grew out of a 2012 Sport Ireland Mayo/Sligo adult participation report, which found limited involvement by men in sport and physical activity in rural areas. A 16-week pilot followed in Westport, Claremorris and Ballina with 120 men, fully evaluated by Waterford IT.
The free beginners' programme offers structured group exercise twice a week, built around cardiovascular fitness and strength and conditioning, plus two facilitated workshops, a 24-page health booklet, a pedometer, weekly phone contact, a wallet card for recording measurements and a 5km celebration event at the end once restrictions fully lift. Before Covid, participants were measured for weight, height, BMI and waist circumference and did a timed one-mile walk or run, with the checks repeated 12 weeks later. Mountain walks and sing-songs were part of the mix.
In Cork, Inniscarra Men on the Move coach Nicky Jones says his group has been back training for five or six weeks. It reached the final three in a community team award and was narrowly beaten by a team from the city. After a summer break, it restarts in September and runs to Christmas, mostly indoors. Details are available from local sports partnerships.
Citazioni salienti
Had I not gone to Men on the Move, none of this would have happened.— Billy McMahon
I'm a different person as a result of Men on the Move and I don't want to go back to the way I was.— Eugene Tobin
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