Tara Bishop memorial is a run
THE ORGANISERS of this year’s Tara Bishop Memorial Run in Ballymurn village have hailed it a fantastic success and thanked everyone who took part.
This year’s event was held in virtual format and with that in mind the organisers were unsure as to how it would go.
However, speaking to this newspaper Bobby Redmond, one of the principal organisers, said it was a tremendous success.
‘We raised €6,340 and the money will be split between Ballymurn National School and Temple Street Hospital,’ Mr Redmond said.
‘Because it was a virtual run we didn’t know what to expect or what response we would get, he added.
‘We were entering the unknown to an extent so we were delighted with how it went.’
The organisers were particularly appreciative of the support from the local community and Enniscorthy based company, KDK Scaffolding, which sponsored the t-shirts for the event.
‘We allocated all of the 500 t-shirts so that was great,’ Mr Redmond said.
He said the success of the event was indicative of the fact there is very strong community spirit in Ballymurn and the surrounding areas.
While the normal run is very much a community event with the face-to-face social interaction playing a very important part the virtual aspect this year meant people from all over the country and beyond signed up to support it.
‘We had people from the UK, America and all over Ireland participating this year,’ Mr Redmond said.
While the virtual event was a great success he said everyone is looking forward to when things go back to normal and the annual run will be able to be held ‘in-person’ again’.
‘ The social aspect of it is very important and the friendly cup of tea, the buns, and the interaction is very important,’ Mr Redmond said.
Normally there is a friendly competition between a team representing Ballymurn National School and Temple Street Hospital and obviously the banter of that can’t be replicated online or virtually.
‘Every child in the parish participates and the event also enables older people to give their support to it every year and older people in the community need the live event,’ Mr Redmond said.
The organisers are extremely grateful to everyone who supported this year’s run and Bobby said the effort of everyone involved was very much appreciated.