Track-Attack To Hold Biggest Challenge – The Presidential Run
As Track-Attack grows from strength to strength, the club are about to take on their biggest challenge to date when on the 19th to the 21st of July next, their members will take on a 500km relay trek that will go through the ancestral homes of 3 American presidents namely Ronald Reagan (Ballyporeen), John F Kennedy (New Ross) and Barack Obama (Moneygall) while also taking in some of the most breath-taking scenery that the Emerald Isle has to offer.
Inclusion in our community is at the heart of Track-Attack and we are delighted to announce that this unique event will double up as a club fundraiser that will also attempt to raise much needed funds for both ‘Le Cheile’ ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) unit in Scoil Naomh Cualan in Borrisoleigh and Teach Saoirse (Enable Ireland) in Nenagh which is a purpose built respite facility which provides services to children with a range of disabilities and needs from cerebral palsy to children on the autistic spectrum.
Part of this fundraiser will include a major Facebook advertising campaign with advertising space available at the cost of €100. If any business or individual would like to support this, please contact Declan Maher 087 1444977, Pat Keane 087 6380649, Christy Slattery 087 2250791 or Caroline Murray at 087 9588046.
The event will kick-start on Thursday 19th July at 8pm with the first of 17 legs. To keep with the Track-Attack ethos of encouraging people of all ages and abilities to participate in our events, the first leg will be a 3km run on the Borrisoleigh track that will include all our juvenile members. The leg will have a major twist that will be announced over the coming weeks but it will be something not to be missed!!
Following on from this, leg 2 will be a 5km walk that will bring from Borrisoleigh to the Ragg. Again this will ensure that everyone will have the opportunity to be part of the overall event. Legs 3 and 4 will see our participants run into the hours of darkness with both legs being of 35km in length with the final destination been our first ancestral home of Ballyporeen. Along the route we will be passing the tourist attractions such as Holycross Abbey, Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle and the Mitchelstown Caves.
Our expected time of arrival in Ballyporeen is 5:30am on the Friday 20th and here we will switch sporting codes to cycling where participants will take to the saddle for 100km. On leaving the home of Reagan, we will head to places like Clonmel and Newcastle before taking in the magnificent scenery of The Vee. We then pass through the town of Lismore before finishing up at the monastery in Mount Melleray.
It’s back on foot again for leg 6. A 35km journey that will go down through the idyllic Glenshelane Woods, into Cappoquin before heading for the coastal town of Dungarvan taking in places like Aglish, Ballinameela and Carriglea along the way.
Legs 7, 8 and 9 will be 20km in length and some of the scenery on these legs are a joy to behold. On leaving Dungarvan, we will head onto the Greenway with features such as the Durrow and Ballyvoyle Viaducts and tunnel, the old railway station in Kilmeaden before arriving in Bilberry in Waterford City. We will head up the quays of the city passing Reginald’s Tower, up through Ardkeen and out to the fishing village of Passage East.
Arrival time in Passage is estimated at 8:30pm and here we will again change the sporting code to swimming. The task is to swim the 1km from Passage to Ballyhack!!
Once hitting dry land again, we will be 21km from our second ancestral home of New Ross. The participants of this leg will run as far as the changeover at the John F Kennedy centre on the quay beside the Dunbrody ship. To add to the event, we are also planning on a social event in the Wexford town so chalk it into your diary.
On leaving New Ross, the task gets all the more daunting. Next up are two 50km runs which will bring us back to Waterford City on the opposite side of the Suir River, onto Mooncoin, Carrick on Suir, Callan and arrive in Kilkenny City at the famous city castle. If things go to plan, we will arrive in the Marble city at approx. 10am on the Saturday morning.
Leg 14 will then see us travel from Kilkenny City to Durrow with a 30km run before we head back on the bicycles for the next 35km when we will arrive in Clonmore. The penultimate leg will see us run a 30km distance into our third ancestral home of Moneygall with the final changeover place being the Barack Obama Plaza.
The 17th leg will see us heading back to Borrisoleigh but going straight back would be the easy way to do things and as a habit, we don’t do easy!!! The final journey will bring us up and over the Devils Bit before returning home to base.
It will be a mammoth task overall but one that Track-Attackers won’t shy away from. Last year’s “Trip around Tipp” generated great interest but this year will possibly surpass anything we’ve ever done in our 4 year history.
A promotional video for the event can be viewed on our new YouTube channel which can be found at Borrisoleigh Track Attack. Log into our Facebook page also to keep up-to-date with all our plans for the event over the coming weeks.
