In 2016 my challenge is to run the Nike Victory Series Race in London as I discussed here, and in the build up for that I have decided to set myself smaller challenges to keep myself on track. And with that in mind – I decided to enter the ‘7km’ The Heart of Galway Challenge that was a charity run organised by Project Impact in aid of Foróige Big Brother Big Sister in Galway.
Project Impact was set up recently by Galway Entrepreneur Pat Divilly and is to start “Bringing like minded go-givers together to bring awareness and change to the world.” He wants to give help where help is needed and pull people together to make them a part of it. I love the idea of being a part of the community and he certainly has the right people in place to make all feel involved and to create such an open forum on the closed Facebook Page for his first event in aid of Foroige. He is so inspirational as a person and truly believes and has proven that one person can make a difference.
Just for those who may not be aware, Foroige Big Brothers Big Sisters is an internationally recognised youth mentoring programme that forms supportive friendships for young people inspiring them to brighter futures. It was founded in 1998 with the aim of promoting and supporting the development of mentoring programmes operating independently in various countries throughout the world. If you would like to learn more about volunteering you can get more details here or call 01 630 1560.
The first event was called ‘The Heart of Galway’ and was a ‘7km’ walk/run starting from 56 Central on Shop Street in Galway, then down by the Claddagh and out the Salthill Prom to kick the wall and back again on Valentines’s Day. The entry fee was €20 and then the minimum target to fund raise was €80 – so quite the goal for over 150 people but achievable none the less. All the money raised will go to Foróige Big Brother Big Sister in Galway and part of that reason is due to Halo Nightclub kindly sponsoring the Tshirts and medals – I love supporting an event where the money in it’s entirety goes to the charity.
And also the reason that ‘7km’ is in inverted commas is because at the end we realized that it was a 10km challenge!! I actually think that this was quite a smart move as 7km sounds much more manageable and at the end the sense of accomplishment was amazing and I think that many of us did more than we thought we could.
And I will be honest I walked most of this race – my goal was to prove to myself that I could do this without fail and give myself a confidence boost for my running – and job done. I was tired at the end but didn’t struggle and I feel that my runs from the last few weeks where I have walked/run 3-4km have helped in my general fitness levels. I am actually really motivated now and can’t wait to keep getting fitter!
And now the funniest part…. the challenges!! The best part of this run was the quirky tasks that you had to do along the way. From dragging tyres, to doing wheelbarrow runs, carrying sandbags to having to hop away 🙂 It was honestly so much fun and everyone had such a laugh doing them. It really brought a sense of teamwork to the event as everyone was cheering everyone else on and that really added to the day itself – can’t remember the last time I seen so many people smiling and exercising at the same time. You can see more funny pictures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by searching the hashtags;#ProjectImpact and #HeartofGalway
And can you believe the sun actually came out for the race? It truly was a sign that it was meant to be 🙂 The day was cold but no rain and the sun just added to it. An absolutely amazing day for the event.
And here we go – my medal!! And also a very snazzy T-Shirt. I am also delighted that Pat is currently using this image as the Facebook profile picture for his Project Impact Organisation which is fantastic.
A massive thank you to 56 Central and the Organizers as it was so well planned and there was no hiccups (visible to us anyways!), it was a great way to spend a few hours on Valentine’s Day. Also, congratulations to Project Impact team – they raised over €13k (at latest count) for the Foróige Big Brother Big Sister Charity in just one event and I cannot wait until the next event!! 🙂
The featured image for this farticle was kindly allowed to be used by John Donohue.
[…] recently attended the Heart of Galway Challenge arranged by your new foundation and it was so much fun! What are your plans for the foundation in […]
[…] woman and version of yourself. She works with Project Impact which I have spoken about before here and works tirelessly with Foroige. There will be another post linked to this one on the importance […]