500 participants in ‘Run Your Town’ initiative
Fingal County Council’s Sports Office in partnership with the Fingal Orienteers Club, the Irish Orienteering Association with support from Sport Ireland through Dormant accounts funding organised a very successful orienteering initiative called ‘Run Your Town’ which was launched during the European Week of Sport.
Fingal County Council’s Sports Office in partnership with the Fingal Orienteers Club, the Irish Orienteering Association with support from Sport Ireland through Dormant accounts funding organised a very successful orienteering initiative called ‘Run Your Town’ which was launched during the European Week of Sport.
The programme saw 147 registrations with 509 participants taking part in this innovative programme that gave participants the opportunity to try out orienteering in Balbriggan, Castleknock, Lusk, Portmarnock and Tyrrelstown. Participants used a live map downloaded onto their phone and ran a short, medium or long course around their town in a specific order to hit the exact points on the map.
Mayor of Fingal Cllr David Healy said: “The Run Your Town Initiative is a fantastic development and a great way to get people active in the community. In this new world of travel restrictions and reduced movement between countries and event regions it’s promoting activity in your area and I would hope we are able to offer this initiative to every town in Fingal.”
Chief Executive of Fingal County Council AnnMarie Farrelly said: “We have all seen the benefits of the involvement in physical activity over the last few months and it’s great to see a project developed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It demonstrates Fingal’s commitment to working within the community to provide important health and wellbeing initiatives in a fun way.”
Director of Services, Housing & Community, Margaret Geraghty, said: “The Run Your Town project is a great initiative by Fingal County Council’s Sports Office. The sports office has worked hard over the last number of months coming up with new and innovative ways to keep people active and engaged in sport throughout the pandemic. It further enhances the amenities in the Balbriggan, Castleknock, Lusk, Malahide and Tyrrelstown and provides a recreational tool, which can be used by its residents at a time that suits them.”
For this initial phase of the project 5 towns were selected around Fingal and it is hoped more towns, villages and areas around Fingal could be mapped with orienteering courses set up to allow people the opportunity to try out this free orienteering programme in their locality.
The programme is still live so why not walk or run at your own pace and find parts of your town that you didn’t know existed. If you’re interested in registering or would like to know more about the ‘Run Your Town’ project please check out https://bit.ly/33vEdXG or email [email protected]
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