Lurgan Park Fun Runs raise £7k for charity

The event, now in its third year, was organised by St Ronan’s teacher David Wilson and Tony Mckeown of CRASH Services with the help of the Lurgan Hospice Fundraising Group.

David commented, “We were so pleased again with the response from local runners. We had 400 runners who signed up online before the event and another 150 who registered on the day. This was well up on the 350 who took part in 2015. We were amazed at the amount raised and reached a total of £7,000.

“All the costs of staging the event were provided by local companies so every single pound of the runner donations are going to the Southern Area Hospice. So we would like to thank main sponsors, CRASH Services, Tesco, Aqua Twist, House of Sport Lurgan and Portadown, Creative Juices, McCaul Signs and the Fitness Factory who all provided materials and services to the event for free. The Lurgan Hospice Fundraising Group provided volunteers and marshals for the event too.

David added, “We must also give a lot of credit to all the Lurgan Park and Council staff. They were extremely helpful and the park was looking great on the day. We have had great feedback from participants across Northern Ireland, many of whom were visiting the park for the first time.

“The winners on the day were 5k male Dromore AC Stephen O’Gorman (17.30) and 5k female St.Peter’s AC Emma Mulholland (21.51). 10k male St.Peter’s AC Mark Cornett (37.10) and 10k female Armagh AC Kathryn Rafferty (42.45).”

Southern Area Hospice provide their service across the entire Southern Health Board area, including Lurgan, Newry & Mourne, Craigavon, Banbridge, Portadown, Armagh and Dungannon. With an annual fundraising target of over £2 million, SAHS need to raise over £250 every single hour to help people affected by terminal illness in Southern Board Area.

David concluded, “We look forward to staging the event again in 2017.”