Run to the West raises €42K
A GROUP of friends from Greystones made their way to Galway on foot last month, in the ‘Mindfulwest Run’.
They did 248 km in three days from September 17 to 19 for mental health awareness, raising over €42,000 for Crumlin Children’s Hospital and A Lust for Life. Donations remain open until Saturday, October 17 at idonate.ie under MindfulWest Run
The event was postponed twice, with initial plans for April and then May. Finally, they were able to hit the road in September.
The group has set an annual running challenge for the first weekend of April for the past few years, to ensure that they continue training during winter.
They did the Roma Marathon in 2016 and again in 2017, the Montseny 80km Ultra in Spain in 2019, and last year it was the Enkarterries Extreme Ultra Trail – 60km in the Bilbao region.
They decided to stay closer to home for 2020, and settled on a Greystones to Galway run.
‘We wanted to do something near home to see if we could get a few more people to join us, to have others experience what we have been experiencing over the years, beyond the running and with a particular focus on mental health awareness,’ said a spokesman.
Within a few weeks, they had an 18-strong running group committed to the cause.
Six of the team attempted the full distance with the rest playing a supporting role, running to the limits of their own capabilities and ensuring that food stops and water were in good supply.
They headed over the cliff walk from Greystones on the morning of September 17.
For three days they enjoyed beautiful weather and they all crossed the finish line together at Clarinbridge, to a small crowd of family and friends there to welcome them.
Each participant carried a stone from Greystones to Galway Bay, as a symbol of the weight that we each carry. The stones were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean.
A Lust for Life is an award-winning Irish wellbeing
movement created to transform how we talk about and treat mental health.
They use multimedia content, campaigns and events to empower, equip and facilitate children and young people to mind their own mental health and wellbeing.
Their initiative ‘It’s Not the End of the World’ is a series to help secondary school exam students with their mental health in the lead up to Junior and Leaving Cert exams.
The objective is to create a peer-to-peer conversation around exams being ‘not the end of the world’ by sharing personal experiences and helpful expert advice.
Meanwhile, childhood illness in all its forms is persistent, indiscriminate and often devastating.
Many of the children who pass through the doors of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin (CHI Crumlin) have rare and complex conditions that are life-limiting or life-threatening.
When a child is up against a chronic illness or disease, it’s not a fair fight. It will take their smiles, their innocence, their health, their precious family moments, their fun and, sometimes, even their young lives.
CMRF Crumlin are dedicated to supporting these children right across their patient journey, by providing the wraparound and holistic supports which create brighter days for sick children.
As a part of this they offer these children complementary therapies, including music therapy that helps sick children reach their social, emotional, cognitive and physical goals.
They also offer adolescent play services for children with cancer. These therapies are dedicated to improving the patient experience for those children who will battle acute illness from their first breath.
The Holistic Therapy Programme is committed to offering these children a moment of respite in their long battle with ill health.