Ballyfin NS has organised a record breaking run to take place on Saturday March 22.
The Dash to 44 Challenge is a fundraiser for a new astro turf pitch and support for Kolbe Special School in Portlaoise.
This is an ambitious effort for the 50 runners taking part with the aim of running across 44 pitches countywide attempting to break a record while garnering money for a much needed facility in the community.
This event will be the first attempt ever to try to run a lap of every GAA pitch in one county in one day.
So far, the school has raised a total of almost €45,000. The overall aim is to reach €50,000 while they have also pledged €2,500 to Kolbe Special School.
There is also a competition between the competitors to see who can raise the most money and claim a trophy.
The mammoth task for the runners is to commence at Ballyfin NS and will go to 44 different football pitches.
After the first runners begin their run, they will go to Rosenallis. From then they will go to many different pitches that range from Portlaoise to Graiguecullen.
The event will see all the runners complete one lap of every GAA pitch in Laois. This task will take place over 15 hours on Saturday.
The idea sprouted from local man Seán Connolly who approached the school with the concept.
From its inception, much planning went into the project ensuring it was plausible, a spokesperson for the school said.
They said: “The project had a huge amount of planning bringing this project to life – from coordinating participants and organising fundraising efforts to managing logistics.”
The school commended the efforts of the community by saying “they were overwhelmed with the support”.
Other than the organisational side of things, there was also a massive focus on the social media side to ‘spread the word and engage the community’.
One of the posts which saw a real focus during the promotion of the event was the announcements of the participants and a bio to go along with them.
Some of these include former Laois footballer and Ballyfin player, James Finn.
He attributed his reason for joining the Dash to 44 to his nephews who attend the school in Ballyfin who, he says, would greatlt benefit from an astro turf pitch.
Laois County Councillor Tommy Mulligan has also committed to the run for the improvement of the schools sports facilities for the local children which too, include his nephews.
Two runners of international pedigree are to ‘lead the charge’ on Saturday. These are Dearbhail Cuddy and Bernadette Spillane.
Cuddy has the huge achievement of representing Ireland in the Olympics. Meanwhile, Spillane has a bronze medal under her belt for the 4×200 relay at the 2023 Masters Athletics Championships.
All the runners involved will have to undertake an enormous test of ‘endurance and determination’ and will be a showcase of the ‘county’s solidarity’.
As the dash will wrap up back in Ballyfin GAA, there will be a special lap of honour with Ballyfin NS students and Kolbe students.
In what has been described as a team effort, the school have added that they’re “incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved so far”.
Finally they asked for support of all GAA clubs to “get behind our runners and get some support out to keep them motivated”
More information on all the runners is available on the Ballyfin National School Parents Association’s Facebook
If you are looking to donate and support the effort, you can do so here.
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