Ballydesmond earn Duhallow Fittest Club title
NOBODY could question Ballydesmond’s right to becoming Duhallow’s Fittest Club on displaying stamina by surviving a stern test from Kiskeam in a playoff earlier week.
Both clubs went head to head after finishing deadlocked in the initial series that involved 23 clubs participating in a Charity fundraiser supporting worthy causes in a series of runs that covered a massive 407,000km distance. To determine a victor, players from both Ballydesmond and Kiskeam ran a mile, the top 10 times were added and the quickest combined won.
Fittingly the two clubs conjured up the concept in support of four named charities and along with mens and ladies football clubs, all rowed in a united front that helped raise €35,825 for Kanturk and Millstreet Community Hospitals, the Rathcoole based Air Ambulance and the Burren Chrernoyl Project.
Initially, 639 participants from 23 clubs walked, jogged and ran with each club set up through a Nike Running app for the recording of individual distances covered and confirm each clubs total distance.
Categories saw clubs collect points for the club who recorded the highest number of kilometres and also calculated was the average distance covered by each club. Some staggering tallies surfaces, Ballydesmond covered a whopping 3934.65km compared to an equally impressive 3852.18km for Kiskeam.
However Kiskeam fared better in the second leg of the competition, their representation chalked up an average 101.37km as against 93.68km for
Ballydesmond. From a replay of sorts, Kiskeam’s ten runners registered 52 minutes, 36 seconds for the mile distance.
That threw down the gauntlet to Ballydesmond, responding in kind with a better time of 51 minutes, 40 to land the dividends and crowned Duhallow’s Fittest Club.
Kiskeam’s Dave Scannell congratulated the triumphant Ballydesmond combination on their success. With no ball kicked competitively or a group training session taken nor a game played for more than two months, he spoke of GAA clubs longing for activity and the opportunity of players to support worthy beneficiaries.
“Both Kiskeam and Ballydesmond GAA decided to do our bit to help raise vital funds for our hospitals in Duhallow and other deserving causes. We saw it as a great opportunity for players across the division to give something back to the community while maintaining their own fitness as we wait hopefully to get back onto the playing fields,” said Davo.
“For many of the clubs, there is a close association with the chosen beneficiaries and this generated a terrific response and a marvellous sum of money collected,” he said.
Boosted by Duhallow GAA clubs fundraiser, the Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR) has announced the Rathcoole based air ambulance service will recommence daily operations from June 1. The operation had been reduced for a number of months owing to a lack of funding.