Hope & Dream 10: how it all began...

The Hope and Dream 10 project was the brainchild of Tom Herlihy and John O’Leary back in September 2011. Both Tom and John had taken part in a few races and fun runs and had been involved with organising other running events previously.

It came up in conversation on a Sunday morning jog about organising a ten-mile road race for charity. Ten miles is an appealing distance but there were no 10-mile races in Wexford at the time. There was a lot of discussion about Where, When, What for, and How?

1. Where? – Enniscorthy is a central location in the county and is as good a place as any to host the event.

2. When? – Easy; on a point in the calendar that didn’t clash with any other major races.

3. What for? – There was no appetite to host a commercial event for profit. They wanted to ‘do a bit of good’ with it and with an affinity for Hope Cancer Support Centre they decided to use the event to drive awareness and raise funds for it and ‘Share a Dream foundation’ in the first year.

4. How? – Easy; get Alan Maher involved. With the supports and contacts the three men had, they were confident they could pull off something special!

‘Hope and Dream 10’ was born.

Initially the plan was to try and raise ‘a few quid’ and after some research was carried out it was felt that if they could persuade 1000 people to raise €100 each that €100,000 might be achievable.

There was a commitment that all money raised would be given to the charities and any costs would be funded by sponsors. This formed the back bone of the campaign and founded trust with participants. What made this event unique was that it had no entry fee and there is full transparency with all money raised for ‘Hope and Dream’ – this is one of the pillars that the event was built on.

The 10 mile race was designed to appeal to everyone from the walker/jogger to the serious runner. The Little Dreamers Dash is the kids’ event that was established to fulfill this ethos of an all-inclusive family event. It takes place on the Promenade for all children, while the main race is under way. The event was managed and stewarded by local Coláiste Bríde students. A race by ‘ kids’ – for kids.

In those early years Tom and John surrounded themselves with an excellent team of organisers. The team for Hope and Dream 10 started with: Tom Herlihy, Event Chairman; John O’Leary, Race Director; Alan Maher, PRO; Teo Leacy, Safety Officer; Eugene Doyle FCA, Financial Administrator; Michael Jordan, HOPE coordinator and Maria Murphy, Share a Dream Foundation coordinator.

Each of these people had their own teams around them and together with the Emergency Services, Red Cross, Council workers, Schools, Scouts and Sponsors it is estimated that it took 150 volunteers to stage the event on race day.

In that first year all targets were surpassed and €128,262 was raised for the charities. Tom, Alan and John managed the event for the first three years and after putting thousands of participants on the road and raising almost €400k it was time to hang up the Hi-Viz vests.

Hope Cancer Support Centre assumed responsibility for the event under the stewardship of Michael Jordan and his team – and the rest, as they say, is history.

To date the event has raised almost €1m for six charities and is growing in popularity every year!