Ballydesmond declared Duhallow’s fittest club after 40K clocked up
DESERVING CAUSES ARE THE BIG WINNERS WITH €35,825 RAISED
THE greater Duhallow community came out in force to support the Ballydesmond and Kiskeam GAA promoted ‘Duhallow’s Fittest Club’ fundraiser that raised valuable funding for worthy causes.
With Covid-19 casting a gloomy outlook for the prospect of contact sports, the Ballydesmond and Kiskeam GAA clubs’ initiative supported the ICRR Rathcoole based Air Ambulance, Kanturk and Millstreet Community Hospitals and The Burren Chernobyl Project.
With a total of 23 GAA clubs participating, volunteers ran and walked through 40,835km and donations exceeded expectations to reach close on €36,000 in a formal closure to the fund raiser this week.
That allowed the beneficaries enjoy a significant boost and, thanks to the staging, the Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR) have confirmed that the Air Ambulance service will recommence daily operations from Bank Holiday Monday. The operation from Rathcoole Aerodrone was scaled back since earlier this year after an unprecedented amount of missions and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic put financial pressure on the service.
Air Ambulance Operations Manager Ruth Bruton is thrilled to see a return to a seven days service thanks to donations and virtual fundraisers over recent weeks.
“We sincerely thank the public for making this possible; however, the ongoing challenge of keeping it there is our priority and continued support from those that can give is vital. Every mission counts, so every donation counts, too,” she said.
Ms Bruton applauded the innovative fundraiser, ‘Duhallow’s Fittest Club’ where 23 GAA clubs clocked up whopping ground in a bid to raise funds for local charities including the ICRR Air Ambulance.
Sean Linehan from Kiskeam thanked clubs for their support towards the charities and expressed delight at the return of the Air Ambulance.
“As one of the four causes benefiting, we chose the ICRR Air Ambulance as we see it as a vital service, not only for the Duhallow area, but for the entire Munster region. Participants were delighted to get some fun exercise in whilst also helping raise vital funds in addition to some age-old GAA rivalries also surfacing”, said Seán.
The little matter of determining Duhallow Fittest Club required a playoff earlier this week between Kiskeam and Ballydesmond. In fact, it went into a decider on Tuesday evening with the Ballydesmond club emerging the eventual winner after thousands of kilometres and many thousands of euros - €35,825 being the final figure raised for for the four worthy beneficiaries.