Shane is the toast of Ballymote!
Ballymote man’s charity run
SHANE Scully, a long term member of the Ballymote Christmas Lights Committee and a a dedicated runner with Corran AC decided to combine the 2 loves of life to raise money for charity.
With the help of his sister, Nicola, Shane decided to raise money to help light up Ballymote for the people of the community. His iniital target was €1k. He raised five times that amount.
He enlisted the help of Corran Coach Gearoid Cassidy and Caroline Queenan along with his very experienced running friends, Alan Stafford and Gerard Tonry, and local Garda Sergeant Gerry Murphy to help him train for the event.
He has pounded the roads around Ballymote for weeks with strength and determination, while the community started to donate to his GoFundMe page. Within 24 hours of his page going live, Shane had reached his target. Both Nathan Carter and Rory of Rory’s Stories got wind Shane’s appeal and sent their best wishes to one of their biggest fans!
On Sunday, December 20th at 10am, Shane left the Top of the Rock with his running pod to the tune of Merry Christmas Everyone. His family and club members were there to cheer him on and a few little pods of socially distanced locals there dotted about stamping their feet in the icy rainy weather,
He ran his first 10km way faster than he expected and had no trouble running any part of the entire 22km, in fact his team may have had a bit of bother keeping up!
As Shane ran he was met along the way by various pods of local supporters who no doubt helped to encourage and cheer him on along the way.
As he was running, the local people of Ballymote came out with their masks on and stayed apart in their little pods to cheer Shane.
They waited patiently at the Top of the Rock for the mighty Shane who was ten minutes ahead of schedule. It was lashing rain but wouldn’t you know it the sun came out just as he turned the corner at Cassidy’s and came running up the hill towards the gantry with Chariots of Fire blaring out over the speakers. Shane was escorted by the flashing lights of the Gardaí and the local Fire Brigade, with everyone clapping and cheering in what was a magical atmosphere.
Nothing will come close to the emotion of watching Shane run up that hill and through the gantry and into the arms of his big sister Tracey. The town of Ballymote is so grateful for the much needed boost in morale this Christmas. Shane raised way more than his target of €1000, in fact he raised over 5 times that amount! If you’d like to add to his fund check out Corran AC facebook page for the link.
Shane presented his team with Ballymote Half Marathon Tech tops and gave a most rousing and heart warming speech thanking his family and friends for all their support.
Well Done Shane, you truly are an inspiration.
Who knows perhaps this is the town’s new event!
1. Adam Fox 1348m 1. Oran Mitchell 1348m 3. Paul Jinks 1345m 4. Luke McGowan 1337m 5. Malachi Holder 1326m
Summerhill College Summerhill College St. Cecilia’s School Coláiste Iascaigh Corran College
Coláiste Muire Ursuline College Mercy College Ursuline College Ursuline College