Finding a tribe in Sydney

Ballyhaise native Ryan Guilfoyle didn’t exactly hit the ground running when he made the move from Cavan to Sydney two years ago.

Having left a good job in marketing, he struggled at first to find work amid the high cost of living ‘Down Under’.

Fast forward to today and he's now juggling a job managing a gym and a running club of Irish ex-pats with over 1,500 members which he set up with his girlfriend, Shannen Lane.

His new life is making the choice between returning home and remaining in Australia that bit more difficult.

“I’m probably torn between two locations, Sydney and Cavan, it’s hard to know which .” says Ryan.

“I’m connected through home with Cavan,” he regards, adding that at some stage he “eventually” plans to move back to Ireland.

Before leaving, Ryan was a Marketing Activation Manager with energy drink company Nocco, working in Ireland and the UK at sporting events with the likes of Belfast boxer Michael Conlon and rugby player Robbie Henshaw.

“I absolutely loved the job, it’s one of those jobs that it’s probably only now that I realise how good it actually was,” he said, explaining he decided to follow in the footsteps of his girlfriend Shannen when deciding to make the move . Shannen travelled three months before Ryan did, and he says: “I can see myself being in a relationship with my girlfriend for a lot longer than I was going to be in that job so that’s when I made the decision.”

The former Connacht under 20 rugby player reveals that life in Australia is “not all it’s made out to be”.

“It’s tougher than people make out,” he shares, noting that the slog of working in construction just wasn’t for him.

Ryan found himself “in and out” of jobs and “scraping by week to week” for the first 18 months, which really “frustrated” him.

“If you’re outside of a job that doesn’t have a specific description, say a doctor, nurse, teacher, it’s actually really hard to get work.

“You don’t get healthcare, you don't get access to social welfare, you’ve nothing really, it’s you, yourself and I.

“You’re back’s against the wall a little bit so you have to make something of yourself.”

Having “burnt through” his savings, Ryan eventually got a job managing a gym owned by two fewllow Irish men. His longing for the familiarity of Irish soil made the Ballyhaise man do something he “never” would have done back home.

“Girls out here are brilliant, they’ll go to lunch dates, go to book clubs and they’ll do all these things but, for guys, I felt that we kind of isolate ourselves. We’ve only ourselves to blame in some ways.

“I made a TikTok that I was going for a run and if people wanted to join.Forty people showed up,” he reveals. “It was kind of an idea that was brewing for some time, the reason I set it up was because I felt like there were a lot of Irish people who were just expats in general that were similar to me that were struggling to make friends or to have a place to go.”

As they were running around the park that first day, Ryan set up a Whatsapp group and Instagram page and the Tribal Run Club hit the ground.

“It just went from there to now, we have nearly 1,500 people in a WhatsApp group,” he reveals, with 300 to 400 people joining up for their weekly runs.

“It was that kind of feeling of home, I’ve always said the run clubs not going to be the reason you move to Sydney, but it might be the reason you stay and that you enjoy it.

“When you’re with people and you’re having a chat about missing the food from home or whether it be a cup of tea with your parents or with a friend, whatever it might be, we’re all in the same boat, which I think has been really nice.”

The club has been recognised by brands such as lululemon, Asics, Under Armor, Fulfil, and Gym&Coffee.

They’ve also “nearly” outgrown their weekly running track.

Ryan’s parents Keith and Carol, along with his sister Emma also joined the club for a run when they recently visited in July.

“It’s great because my parents were able to come and they were able to meet these people who were coming.

“It’s kind of given me a family in Sydney. It’s hard to believe how far it’s actually come from going to the park and wondering if anyone will show up to now,” he beams.

Tribal Run Club, spearheaded by Ryan and Shannen, has now also set up a group to support people moving to Sydney where they share information on housing, jobs and upcoming events.

“[For] Irish people or anybody who's moving over, there’s a community that’s trustworthy.

“Between the two of us we’ve probably adopted more teenagers who have come over and brought them under our wing and then made some great friends along the way.

“It’s been great for us as well, it is really like a home away from home.”