Ray D’Arcy and the team from Today FM were at LauraLynn Children’s Hospice today calling for support of the Half Million Half Marathon in aid of LauraLynn in association with Volkswagen and Athletics Ireland.
On Friday April 18th 2,000 runners will join Ray D’Arcy in the Phoenix Park to raise money for LauraLynn, Ireland’s only Children’s Hospice. Each race participant is being asked to raise €250 for the charity with the overall aim of raising half a million euro.
According to Ray D’Arcy, “This is an exciting and unique event. Running a half marathon is a brilliant personal achievement, add to that raising €250 for the most deserving charity along with 1,999 other people and you have a very special communal achievement. We are asking 2,000 runners to run over twenty six thousand miles collectively to raise half a million euro for LauraLynn.”
According to Paul O’Sullivan, Head of Marketing, Volkswagen Ireland, “We are delighted to support Today FM on such an exciting event for a very worthwhile cause. LauraLynn provides a very important service to families when they need it most and we are honoured to have the opportunity to support them in their work.”
Philomena Dunne, CEO of LauraLynn commented: “We are delighted to have the support of Today FM, Volkswagen and Athletics Ireland and we are really looking forward to the day. All funds raised will help us to start LauraLynn@Home, a programme which we will be running this summer initially in two locations, to bring hospice care to children in the comfort of their own home.”
Each participant must register on the Athletics Ireland Website where they can either pay €250 for immediate registration or register their details and create an online MyCharity page in order to raise €250. MyCharity will inform Athletics Ireland once the €250 target has been raised and registration will be confirmed.
“We feel some people might want to pay the registration up front while others will want to fund raise through MyCharity and so each runner can decide what suits them. We’re also asking anyone who is not taking part in the race itself to get involved by sponsoring a friend or showing up on the day to cheer from the sidelines,” Ray added.
Philomena Dunne added: “We still need volunteers so if anyone has friends or family members coming along on the day, why not see if they would like to volunteer their time at the event and help with marshalling or water stations.”
Further details can be found at www.lauralynn.ie and todayfm.com/halfmarathon