Kate and Sarah complete 32- county parkruns in Rathwood, Tullow 

KATE Gaynor and her daughter Sarah (8) completed their all-Ireland Parkrun challenge in Rathwood, Tullow on Saturday morning to big cheers from friends and family.

The pair ran 5km routes in all 32 counties in Ireland, finishing their adventure at the weekend in the Tullow Parkrun in Rathwood. They've raised money for the Irish Cerebral Palsy football team and Friends of the Coombe hospital, who supported the family when Sarah and her twin brother Harry were born prematurely at 29 weeks. So far, the GoFundMe has raised €4,000 for each of the organisations.

“The club are absolutely delighted. It's hard enough to raise money for a successful club, but a disability club, it's near impossible,” said Kate.

Sarah’s twin brother Harry was born with Cerebral Palsy, which affects his muscle strength and balance. A football fan, he began training with the only team in Ireland that caters to kids with Cerebral Palsy as soon as he turned seven years old.

“The coaches are so good ... they've a full hour of stretching and loosening their muscles and then an hour of playing football.” 

She explained that “a level playing field” is so important for kids like Harry “to have a chance to be a good player or to get a goal. People drive hours every Saturday to get there. It just goes to show how important it is for the parents and the kids that you get your time to shine."

Kate and Sarah began going to parkruns on Saturday mornings while Harry and Kate’s wife Susan were at football training in Dublin. “It was a nice chance for myself and Sarah to head off, just the two of us.” They came up with the idea for the fundraiser in June and “started straight away,” giving themselves just 34 weeks to tick off all the counties. 

“We just showed up at a different county, a different parkrun every Saturday at 9.30,” said Kate. Crunch time came when four runs were cancelled due to bad weather, but they managed to make up the two lost weeks by doing extra runs on Christmas Day and new year’s day.

The challenge took them to some random and beautiful places like Inch Beach in Kerry and Black Island in Monaghan. “I think Sarah got more of a buzz that she's seen all 32 counties. Because after the run, we'd always get a coffee in a local coffee shop and if there was a local museum we would go. We’d have had the best days out and most of them for free or cheap.” 

She also realised that the events are very social. 

"There's huge camaraderie all the way around and people are shouting ‘well done keep going.’ We met so many gorgeous, gorgeous people," said Kate. 

Kate has applied for Sarah to be awarded a Guinness world record as the youngest person to complete a parkrun in 32 counties in Ireland. “She’s a great little runner,” said Kate. “She flies it. At her second last one in Limerick, she got her personal best, she did it under 30 minutes. She was thrilled. It was her last time to go ahead of me because we had to do it together in Carlow, I was like, we're coming in together holding hands, it's more monumental.” 

They did just that, two days before the twins turned nine years old. They were moved by how many people were at the finish line. “We were so surprised. I think it just goes to show how important it is to show up for people. Out of the whole thing, that was our biggest lesson,” noted Kate.

To donate to the cause go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/mammy-daughter-run-5km-in-each-of-irelands-32-counties

*For a full gallery of photos of the Tullow Parkrun event see next week's paper