Secondary School Students to Run for GOAL / GSPCA

A unique and exciting 5km fun run will be held in Salthill, Galway on Wednesday November 27th at 12 noon. Secondary school students of any age and from anywhere in the country are invited to participate in the event, provided they have permission from their schools and raise funds for two deserving charities - GOAL and the GSPCA. And Ireland's star Olympic athlete, Sonia O'Sullivan, is among those appealing to students to take part in the run and to raise funds through sponsorship cards prior to the event.

The event itself is being modelled on Galwayman Richard Donovan's efforts to run an extreme race on each of the seven continents in one year. As such, the 5km route will be divided into seven sections, each containing attributes of his races on the various continents. Bearing in mind that Richard's race itinerary has included such places as the North and South Poles and the Andes Mountains and Himlayan Mountains along with an upcoming venture in the Sahara Desert, it might not be surprising to find some sand or 'mountain' features along the route. National flags from around the world will also mark the course, which will begin and end near Leisureland. The specific route will encompass Revagh Road, Rockbarton Road North, Salthill Promenade, Whitestrand Avenue, Lower Salthill, Dr. Mannix Road and Rockbarton Road.

SO WHY SHOULD STUDENTS SUPPORT THIS RUN?

A look at the benefiting charities is sufficient to answer that question.

GOAL is an Irish operated international humanitarian organisation which is celebrating its 25th year in existence. It's a charity that Irish people should feel extremely proud of. According to Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "I am so proud of the GOAL members I have met in places such as Kosovo or Sierra Leone, and that I know I will go on meeting in the future where the humanitarian need is the greatest." Irish rock star Bono paid tribute to GOAL during his recent African tour. The U2 lead singer praised GOAL for the help it has given thousands of poor people across the continent. "They are the business," he said. "They really are something special." In fact, GOAL has sent 900 volunteers to work in the developing world and has spent over €130 million helping the poorest of the poor, managing this on an average cost base of just 5% per annum.

Throughout its history, GOAL has always had a special place in its heart for the plight of street children who, having been abandoned or orphaned or through other circumstances, are forced to live on the streets of some of the world's poorest towns and cities. The life of the street child is no life for a child. Often the victims of civil war, famine and natural disaster, their lives are dominated by a constant search for food. They are prey to abuse, drugs, prostitution and violence. They have never known what it is to be loved and cherished. They are the ghosts of what children should be. The proceeds of this 5km run will be directed to GOAL's street children's project in Calcutta, where GOAL takes care of 6,500 children on a daily basis. That is an amazing amount of children who depend on GOAL to escape a life of utter misery and degradation on the streets.

The Galway Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) is the second benefiting charity. In promoting animal welfare and preventing cruelty, the GSPCA provides a range of services such as the investigation of cruelty cases; the proper homing of abandoned, lost or mistreated animals; and the running of educational workshops for young people. Every euro given to the GSPCA goes directly into improving the lot of abandoned and abused animals who pass through the hands of the organisation, which never puts an animal down unless it is terminally ill.

Despite no regular government funding, the GSPCA built an animal sanctuary on a 13-acre site outside of Galway city in Killimor and this sanctuary will be directly supported by the 5km run on November 27th. It is important to realise that the sanctuary will never destroy a healthy animal and endeavours instead to offer all abandoned and mistreated animals a second chance in life. According to Alison Herbert of the GSPCA, "Due to our 'no-kill' policy, our sanctuary in Killimor, Co Galway is always full. During any average week we will be supporting approximately 30 dogs and 30 cats. That is a lot of feeding, veterinary attention, cleaning and tlc!"

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A EURO MAKES!

My little euro won't make any difference! Not true! Ronan Scully of GOAL's West of Ireland office has pointed out that €12 per month will not only provide primary care for a street child in Calcutta, but it will house and educate the child too. Moreover, this 5km fun run provides opportunities for individual schools and students to keep children alive in the Third World and also provide them with some of the basic means to take care of their own future. This is certainly not an insignificant thing to do.

Alison Herbert outlines that the GSPCA finds itself having to fundraise constantly. "Our field officers go out to investigate cruelty and this costs time and diesel. For every animal they rescue, this means an additional veterinary cost. We pay a veterinary nurse at our sanctuary to care for our animals' welfare needs, so this salary must be met by us. All of our animals go through vets before entering the sanctuary and medicines and labour are very expensive. Our vets are good to us, giving us as much as possible in the way of discounts, but even so, the average injection costs €25 and the average cost of spaying or neutering costs €50."

Alison adds "We receive no regular government funding. Annually, and in line with all animal welfare groups, we may receive a payment from the Department of Agriculture towards our farm work. Galway City Council and Galway County Council sometimes give us a small grant of about €1,500 Euro, and sometimes not. If secondary school students could participate in the run and raise funds on the sponsorship cards, they will certainly be giving a second chance in life to abused and neglected animals. The success of this run is critically important to them. We need the public to work with us and to support us financially. If we don't have money we can do very little to help all our animal friends."

WHAT RICHARD DONOVAN IS ATTEMPTING

To raise money for GOAL and the GSPCA, Galwayman Richard Donovan set himself the target of becoming the first person in the world to run seven ultra marathons on seven continents in the same calendar year. Not content with running distances beyond 26.2 miles, he also chose to run the events in the world's most extreme climatic conditions, running in the coldest place on earth, the hottest place on earth, on mountains and in deserts.

So far, he has been achieving his goal in some style by winning almost all of his races, including the First Ever South Pole Marathon (Antarctica), the Inca Trail Marathon in Peru (South America), the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race and Everest Challenge Marathon (Asia) and the Poor Man's Comrades 87km in Sydney (Australia). In addition to being the first person ever to complete a marathon at the South Pole, he also became the first and only person in history to run a marathon at the North Pole, which is not situated on a continent but in the Arctic Ocean. Hence, he is running in eight endurance events this year. He also completed an ultra marathon of 70 miles in North America where he was forced to abandon any attempts at the Irish 100km (62.1 miles) or 100-mile records due to severe humid conditions.

However, the most difficult challenge has yet to arise for Richard when he will run a 333km (208 mile) race in mid-November through the scorching heat of the Sahara Desert. The difficulty will not be just the immense distance he faces or the boiling temperatures or the sand giving way underneath his feet, but rather the fact that his body has taken such a battering to date. Each race brings new levels of tiredness and absolute fatigue in its wake and makes the following event all the more difficult. Thus far, Richard has suffered frostbite, snow blindness, hypothermia, swollen foot tendons, illiotibial band syndrome and leg muscle degeneration, but he is determined to continue and hopefully complete his Sahara endeavour despite the physical costs.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE 5KM FUN RUN

The 5km fun run is being organised in solidarity with Richard's efforts. The brainchild of a Galway businessman Niall McNelis, the course will be sectioned into different continents and it presents the only opportunity for secondary schools to lend their valuable support to the fundraising efforts. Niall says that many schools have been fantastically enthusiastic about participating in the run and it is anticipated that upwards of forty schools or more will be represented. "If the students can go out and collect money for these two deserving causes, then take part in the run, it would be an amazing and genuine success story for all concerned."

SONIA O'SULLIVAN

Sonia O'Sullivan, Ireland's famous Olympic athlete, is also appealing to the schools and students to raise as much funds as possible and take part in the run. "We've all heard about and followed Richard Donovan's quest to become the first person to run an extreme marathon on each of the seven continents and North and South Poles. Well, he's doing this to raise funds for GOAL and for an animal sanctuary in the West of Ireland. If you're a secondary school student you can play an active role by taking part in the 5km fun run in Galway on November 27th. You don't have to go to the ends of the Earth to support these causes - you only have to go to Galway with your completed sponsorship card."

For schools interested in participating in the event, or for those interested in helping out in any other way, please contact GOAL's office at 091-786123.

If anyone is wondering where Richard's European event will take place, it will also occur in Galway. He intends to forsake extreme climatic conditions in order to run from the animal sanctuary in Killimor into Galway city, a distance of about 35 miles. Called 'Killimor to Cuba*', the run will take place on December 14th.