•Prepare yourself for the Christmas dinner by taking part in the annual Galway GOAL mile which takes place on Christmas Day.
Walk, run, jog, or crawl - all are welcome at the four venues in the county to help in one of the oldest Christmas Day charity events in the west.
This year GOAL miles will take place in Galway city, Gort, Ballinasloe, and Tuam. The Galway and Tuam GOAL miles both take place on Christmas Day - at the NUIG Sports Grounds at Dangan from 10 to 1pm and Tuam Rugby Club from 11 to 12noon.
The Ballinasloe Mile will take place on St Stephen’s Day on the Garbally Grounds (Scoil Mhuire entrance ) from 2 to 3pm, while the Gort Mile will take place on January 1 in Coole Park from 1 to 2pm.
The annual GOAL fundraiser, now in its 27th year, has become as much a part of the Christmas tradition as mince pies and roast turkey.
Last year GOAL Miles took place at 65 locations nationwide making it the biggest GOAL Mile ever. More than €400,000 was collected for GOAL’s projects across the developing world. However, this year’s event is going to be even bigger, with new events taking place in Tuam, Ballinasloe, Belfast, Monaghan, Los Angeles, and Abu Dhabi.
The flagship mile will take place at the Belfield running track in UCD where some 3,000 people are expected to turn out.
Life-long GOAL supporter and former world champion Eamon Coghlan will be running his 27th consecutive mile this year at both the Tallaght and Belfield venues. Due to an accident on the day of the Dublin City Marathon, Coughlan has been in a cast recovering from a broken foot. However he has insisted the cast is removed on Christmas Eve so he can take part in the GOAL Mile.
The first GOAL Mile was the brainchild of former GOAL chairperson and international athlete Noel Carroll and took place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin in 1982, where it will return again this year. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death, his four children all ran this year’s Dublin City Marathon in aid of GOAL and they will be hitting the track once again this Christmas morning.
For more information log onto www.goal.ie, or call GOAL in Galway 091 587901.
• The Mark Reilly Memorial Soccer Matches in aid of COPE take place at Mervue United on St Stephen’s Day. The first game kicks off at 11.15am. Now in its 14th year, and organised by James O’Toole, the event has been named in honour of Mark Reilly who was tragically killed in 2005.
