Ballynoe and Doneraile joined 130 other venues around the country on Christmas Day in organising a GOAL Mile walk/run, in aid of the charities humanitarian work in developing countries.

The event in Ballynoe ran throughout Christmas morning, with upwards of 70 people completing the four laps of St Catherine’s GAA pitch and raising €721 in the process.

Co-organiser of the event, Steve Dunning said the annual event was a great success.

“It was a very successful morning. We had a beautiful day, we went from 10 o’clock in the morning until 12.30pm and we had a steady flow of people during that time.

“I’d say we probably had around 70 people turn up. Generally these are local people but we had a few from places like Fermoy. We even had some people over from England who did the walk as part of their annual Christmas holiday here.”

Last year the GOAL Mile raised in excess of €158,000 for programmes in the developing world, and is one of Goal’s major fund-raising efforts, according to Barry Andrews, Goal Chief Executive Officer.

“This year, one of our main efforts has been dealing with Ebola patients. We’ve just opened a hospital in Sierra Leone. Much of the money raised will go to projects like that in West Africa,” he said.

Further afield, GOAL Miles were held in London and Melbourne, where Cork’s Sonia O’Sullivan led the group of runners.

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