News
Students cross Europe for charity – without cash
Dozens of enterprising students are making a break for the border this weekend – trying to cross a substantial part of Europe without spending a cent.
Among them will be Meabh Tarpey from Bushy Park and Róisín Dunne from Furbo, who will be aiming for success in this Jailbreak Charity Challenge, an annual student-run, travel contest.
The concept sees students compete in teams, making their way across borders to a set destination they will only discover shortly prior to setting off on their 36-hour adventure this Saturday.
They have to raise money to enter, and from there on they must depend solely the kindness of others – and their innate blagging skills to reach their target.
All proceeds raised are split between charities St. Vincent de Paul and Amnesty International.
Róisín and Meabh – both former Jes girls – are freshman students with Trinity College, Dublin. Róisín is studying for her B. Sc. in Clinical Speech and Language Studies whilst Meabh is taking her undergrad studies in B.E.S.S. (Business, Economics and Social Studies).
And they know that their quest is a test of endurance – those engaging in the trial have accepted their fate of no sleep for the forthcoming days.
“We have already accepted that we’re not going to sleep over the duration of this challenge,” Róisín confesses.
For many, lack of sleep coupled with planes, trains, buses, taxis, hitching and walking may sound like an absolute nightmare.
But not for the young and buoyant like Róisín and Meabh. “We can’t wait; it’s going to be so much fun,” says Róisín.
So far, the girls have raised over €1,000 for charity, through coffee mornings fuelled by donations of cake from local bakeries and shops. They also received support from local businesses Aró Digital Strategy and O’Leary Insurance.
And they won’t stop there. “We want to continue to fundraise as much as possible to meet this year’s goal,” says Róisín.
Overall the students have set themselves the ambitious target of raising €50,000, with €15,000 collected so far.
Jailbreak 2016 is set to be the most exciting and most challenging yet. Not only must contestants meet at ‘Location X’ as in previous years – they must also meet at ‘Location Y’ and compete in four charity challenges along the way.
The girls will join their comrades and competitors – including other Galway entrants Stephanie Coll and Sophie Kinerns – for a Friday briefing, outlining the parameters and challenges for the competition.
Last year, the competition sounded at 9am on a Saturday morning; with the final destination only being announced at midday.
The target was Lake Bled, Slovenia – a stunning glacial lake in the Alps – deliberately chosen to make it difficult for challengers, who had to make way to this off-the-beaten-track location without spending any money of their own.
The 2015 event included 88 teams, all of whom raised €300 pre-departure. This year 100 teams are reportedly taking part and each team must raise a compulsory €400 pre-departure.
Jailbreak has altered its format once again with extra locations, challenges and flight restrictions being introduced.
Four rules apply: no money is permitted – students must fundraise and blag their way; flights over two hours are disallowed, as are flights out of the same country they flew into.
And this year, participants are also saddled with a further challenge which states they must complete four charity challenges before their team finishes.
To support Róisín & Meabh visit Jailbreak HQ Corporations or businesses interested in sponsoring, email: rdunne9@tcd.ie
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
