Airtricity Dublin Marathon support for charities
Former
Dublin Marathon winners announce that Temple Street Children’s Hospital and
Focus Ireland will be the official charities of the 2013 Airtricity Dublin
Marathon
September 2013: Two of Ireland’s best known athletes and former Airtricity Dublin Marathon
winners, Sonia O’Sullivan and John Treacy were on hand to announce that two of Ireland’s
most loved charities will be the official charity partners of this year’s Airtricity
Dublin Marathon which will take place on Monday 28th October 2013.
Temple Street
Children’s Hospital, one of Irelands’ best known children’s charities and Focus
Ireland, Ireland’s homelessness prevention charity have launched an appeal for
runners, walkers and joggers across the country to take part in this year’s Airtricity
Dublin Marathon and to help raise much needed funds on behalf of their
respective charities.
“We are truly
delighted to partner with these two charities for the 2013 Airtricity Dublin
Marathon. Both charities work hard to secure much needed funds to benefit
children and the issue of homelessness in Ireland every year. We strongly appeal
to the many participants who have already registered to take part or those who
have yet to register, to sign up to either charity to help raise as much money
as they can for either charity,” said Jim Aughney, Airtricity Dublin Marathon
Race Director.
Aughney continued, “It
feels appropriate to have Sonia and John here to help make our charity partners
announcement, as both Irish athletes were the last Irish runners to have won
the Marathon. It’s an exciting year for the Airtricity Dublin Marathon as the race
could see an Irish winner due to the fact that no elite runners will be invited
to take part in October.”
Temple Street
Children’s University Hospital is the first port of call for tens of thousands
of children every year suffering from every kind of illness and injury
imaginable. Annually, over 154,000 sick children are cared for in the hospital
with approximately 50,000 children attending its Accident and Emergency
Department, making it one of the busiest A&E’s in Europe
Denise Fitzgerald, CEO
of the Fundraising Office at Temple Street Children’s Hospital said, “We are
thrilled to be selected as one of the two charities for the 2013 Airtricity
Dublin Marathon. Temple Street Children’s Hospital is dependent on donations
and fundraising efforts to maintain services, therefore being involved in such
a major event is of huge benefit. We hope that raising vital funds for the sick
children we care for will give runners the motivation and inspiration they need. Thank you to everyone for going the extra
mile for our special patients”.
Focus Ireland has
worked hard to prevent people becoming, remaining or returning to homelessness
since 1985. Its vision is that ‘everyone
has a right to a place they can call home’ and the organisation works
tirelessly to make this vision a reality for thousands of people every year.
Last year alone more than 8,000 people benefited from their services;
worryingly 1 in 7 people using homeless services is a child.
Director of Fundraising and
Marketing at Focus Ireland, Lisa-Nicole Dunne said: “We are extremely
honoured to have been selected as
one of the beneficiary charity partners for the 2013 Airtricity Dublin
Marathon. With the support of the participants raising money on behalf of Focus
Ireland, we will continue to raise awareness and much-needed funds for our work
to end homelessness. We provide over 60 services across Ireland helping people
who are at risk of losing their homes, and this year’s marathon participants
will be helping prevent homelessness every step of the way.”
The Airtricity Dublin Marathon has helped to generate
millions of euro for charities since its establishment in 1980 and aims to
continue to benefit these two charities among many others this year.
The 34th annual
Airtricity Dublin Marathon will take place on bank holiday Monday, October 28th.
For further information or to enter see www.dublinmarathon.ie
To join Team Temple Street Children’s Hospital call 01 878 4344 or log
onto www.templestreet.ie for further details.
To join Team Focus Ireland Call 01 881 5900 or log onto www.focusireland.ie