The Jacinta O’Brien Plassey 10k is an event organized by the 2nd year Sport and Exercise Sciences Students annually. This year the event took place on the 9th of April, with participants running a new and more scenic route that took place on majority of the UL magnificent campus. It is, as always, a charity event, with all funds raised split between our two very worthy charities. This year the two charities selected by the 2nd year students were the Irish Cancer Society, and the Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association. We are pleased to report that a total of over €3,000 was raised from this event, with about €1,600 going to each charity.
On race day, there was close to 100 participants which emphasized the fact that this race is a fun day out, with the goals set as you choose; to try and beat your personal best, or just finish your first 10k! Our winner on the day was Hilkka Kontro (Research Assistant in PESS), coming in at an amazing time of 38:27, and our male winner arrived only 20 seconds later – Will Turner at 38:44 and our youngest participant was Cormac Norton (aged 8).
There was a lovely community feel to the event, as our class group became very close with the amount of time spent organising the event! The two Race Leaders this year were Orla Maher and Daire Fitzmaurice who oversaw the running of the event. The class group of 50 students, was further broken up into 6 committees;
- Budget (who handled all the money)
- Registration (who dealt with registration both online and on the day of the event)
- Communications and Entertainment (our main contact with the charities and sponsors)
- Safety and Facilities (made sure all documentation was in place, and that we could run the race as safely as possible)
- Advertising (who handled all our social media, publications, creation of posters)
- Race Management (who on the morning of the race, made everything happen!)
The class group were assisted by PESS Postgraduate students Cormac Powell and Hannah McCormack and PESS lecturer, Dr. Mark Lyons who coordinates the module Coaching Science and Performance 3, which the race is a part of. Of course, this event would have not been nearly as successful if it wasn’t for the help of several other people, mainly Neasa O’Donnell in UL Sport, PESS faculty, the Buildings and Estates department, John Cleary at Eventmaster, Ritchie Clifford and the Guards.
Organising the Jacinta O’Brien Plassey 10km was a huge learning curve, but ultimately a success and a very enjoyable part of the module. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who came out on the day – runners, walkers and volunteers who supported these wonderful charities.
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