Dec 14, 2020
Baton twirling is not a sport that you will typically find outdoors. It relies on good and consistent lighting, a hard wood floor and enough heat to stop fingers from feeling numb when twirling a baton! But where there is a will, there is a way and Northern Star Twirlers, a club based in North Dublin, have been adapting to training outdoors over the past few months.
Since September a floodlit tennis court at Dean Swift Sports Club in Coolock has been the training location for Northern Star’s athletes who range in age from 2 to 18. The club continued its training outdoors with 6 sessions a week. Speaking about the past few months for their club, the Northern Star coaches said; “Even though it’s not ideal to be outdoors, particularly in the Winter, our athletes have been glad to be able to keep going and we are very grateful to have had the use of a floodlit facility, particularly as the darker evenings set in. The members of our club, along with their parents, have been incredible – no matter what the challenge, they have met it head on. Our young people have shown us so much to be proud of. We would like to thank Dublin City Council for helping us find somewhere to train, our national governing body BTSAI for all the support they provide to us, and Sport Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport for continuing to advocate for sports like ours. This has been a tough year for everyone but we’re looking forward to 2021 with hope and excitement for a complete return to the sport we love”.
Dec 14, 2020
During this exceptional year we’ve been having there have been very limited opportunities to host events, with this in mind we were extremely lucky to be able to hold the #BeActive Paddle Day, a nationwide participation focussed event to get people out on the water for the first time. This event was made possible with a successful funding application to Sport Ireland and the EU Commission for support in running an event as part of the 2020 European Week of Sport (23rd-30th September). The whole week, and our event, was aimed at getting more people active and out exercising, sometimes for the first time or to rekindle their exercise habits.
With a massive amount of work put in behind the scenes, led by Events Manager Ciaran Maguire, the finer details of the event were ironed out and the wheels were put in motion. To get as many new people trying out paddlesports for their first time we partnered with affiliated clubs, Outdoor Education Training Centres and Local Sports Partnerships all over the country to make the event accessible to as many people as possible. These partner locations held a morning and an afternoon session, run by registered instructors for the attendee’s safety and to ensure the best experience for all involved. All of the equipment provided for the attendees was also fully sanitized between the sessions to ensure hygiene standards were adhered to for the safety of the participants. These measure in place due to no small amount of work from Emer Carton, putting in floods of work to ensure that bookings and the locations themselves were coordinated to the highest standard, both running smoothly and safely.
In the lead in to the event itself we also held a brilliant event launch to announce the Paddle Day and to mark the bookings as open. The launch, held on the Leinster aqueduct over the River Barrow in Monasterevin, invited local club members to come and take part and ensure the focus on clubs and participation for the event. Thanks to Sam Curtis, Canoeing Irelands Communications head, we had fantastic branding graphics made for the day, followed up with great visibility of the event and branding for the entire Week of Sport We were very pleased as well to have representatives from Sport Ireland at the event to support the launch.
In the lead up to the Paddle Day itself we were delighted to partner with Mazda Ireland, who provided us with a Canoeing Ireland branded CX-30 to help in our transport for the Paddle Day organisation, and the work across the Week of Sport itself.
On the 26th September the #BeActive Paddle Day kicked off on a cold but bright morning, a brief gap in the cold and wet weather preceding the weekend. In total 45 event locations were holding a variety of morning and evening beginner sessions across 21 counties. On the day itself thanks again to Mazda Ireland the CEO, Moira Aston, and Events Manager, Ciaran Maguire, were able to get out to many event locations to both see the success of the event and touch base with our fantastic clubs who were making the event possible. Across the sessions being held throughout the day the Canoeing Ireland team were able to visit event locations at Trim Canoe Club, Ribbontail Paddlers Canoe Club, Inny Kayak Club, Laois Kayak and Canoe Club, and the Athy Sports Hub. These locations all ran brilliant sessions, with a great attendance, loads of fun for all involved, and most importantly were run safely for all participants and instructors. These events that the team attended were reflective of each of the 45 event locations which all showed this same level of excellence in their respective session, as we saw during the barrage of brilliant photos of people out enjoying being on the water coming in from clubs and OETCs throughout the day. In total across these locations 1045 people were out on the water, the majority of which were out getting active on the water for their very first time in a boat. Among the locations and events were some fantastic set ups and causes, such as the West Cork Kayakers running a session in support of breast cancer, and the Limerick Kayaking Academy putting on a full Junior fun race in conjunction with the #BeActive Paddle Day, with a full day of Boatercross racing on the Castleconnell S Bend. It didn’t stop here with clubs and various partners running events affiliated with the Canoeing Ireland Paddle Day through the entire European Week of Sport. With all these people trying out paddlesports for their first time doing so through clubs and their own community we hope that they will continue to engage with and pick up the love of our sport through their fantastic local club.
Talking about the success of the event Ciaran Maguire said, “Blown away the uptake on this event. When we contacted the clubs who where interested, all they said was yes! The YES turned into a mass participation event it would not have been possible with out the networks of clubs involved rolling up their sleeves and running great session around the country. From Leenan and Letterfrack to Villlerstown and Lough Hyne, Baltinglass to Donegal we had am impressive spread. The big thanks to all who ran sessions and to those first timers who came along to enjoy the sport.”
We would like to again extend a massive thank you to the affiliated clubs, OETC’s and LSP’s who got involved and helped in running sessions, and especially to Sport Ireland and the European Commission whose support made this event possible.
Dec 14, 2020
35 Fingal schools and over 3,500 5th & 6th class students will complete 26.2 miles over 8 weeks, training 4 times a week in school.
This is the 6th year of this programme, which sees over 10,000 students from across Dublin complete the programme
Last Wednesday Aisling Moloney, RTE news2day and David Gillick MarathonKids Ambassador, visited Powerstown Educate Together National School in Tyrrelstown to see how the 5th and 6th class students were getting on with their marathon journey.
The MarathonKids Ireland Programme is designed to encourage children to embrace healthy, active lifestyles. Niall Mc Guirk (Fingal County Council) and Neil Kennedy (MarathonKids Ireland) developed the programme, which took place for the first time in 2015 and saw 800 students take part.
The programme, the only one of its kind in the country, is in over 150 Dublin primary schools and sees students accumulate a distance of 26.2 miles over an 8 week period. The programme sees each student taking part receive a workbook to use in class. The idea of the workbook is to inform students about the marathon, learn about the benefits of sport and record their training on a daily basis. Teachers have been very impressed with the MarathonKids Ireland Workbook and its contribution to the classroom. Ailish McKenna, a teacher in Powerstown ETNS, ‘This is our third year running the Marathon Kids Programme in Powerstown. We feel it’s great motivation for the children to stay active, especially this year during the pandemic. The booklet reinforces the physical and mental benefits of being active with information on the role of nutrition and hydration. It is a fantastic programme that the children look forward to every year.’
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For further information on the MarathonKids Ireland Programme contact:
Noel McManus noel.mcmanus@fcrs.ie 0879830443
Dec 14, 2020
The successful and enjoyable 21 Day walk/push challenge saw over 100 registrations take part. IWA Sport partnered with Get Ireland Walking with the aim to turn members leisurely walks or pushes into a habit in three weeks. Kicking off the month of November with a brilliant challenge, over 100 registered pushers and walkers received activity packs to help with this challenge. We had participants from all over Ireland including Kinsale, Dundalk, Listowel and Navan, to name a few. We also engaged with a number of new people who we haven’t previously and it showed the appetite out there for different forms of physical activity
Participants and members did a fantastic job at keeping the 21-day walk/ push challenge Facebook group active. Each day members posted selfies as well as snapshots of times and distances. We were also treated to lovely images of different scenery and even some fluffy friends accompanied people on their walk/ push. During a time where were encouraged to stay apart this virtual challenge really brought people together and a sense of community to all involved. Stay tuned on the IWA-Sport Facebook page for more challenges like this in 2021.
Dec 10, 2020
The Keep Well campaign is aimed at showing people of all ages how we can mind our own physical and mental health and wellbeing by adding healthy and helpful habits to our daily and weekly routine.
Sport Ireland, Get Ireland Walking and Healthy Ireland are encouraging people of all ages to walk into 2021 by taking part in the Keep Well Walking Challenge, which gets underway today.
Walking is the most accessible form of physical activity with no special equipment or locations required. Sport Ireland, Get Ireland Walking and Healthy Ireland are looking to get as many people as possible out and active for at least 30 minutes a day for the remaining 21 days of December, bringing a healthy habit forward to the New Year.
To support this, Get Ireland Walking has produced a new app that will allow users to keep a record of their walking and help all participants to stay motivated. The handy app will provide useful tips on advice on how to build walking into every day routines. It can be downloaded at getirelandwalking.ie/app.
As part of the 21-day campaign, well-known people from across Ireland will share their favourite walk of 2020, whether it is a socially distanced walk with a loved-one or simply a lunchtime escape from the bedroom office.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD said: “The benefits of physical activity are undisputed and walking is the most accessible form of physical activity available. I am delighted to say that I will be taking part in the Keep Well Walking Challenge and have already downloaded the app to help keep me motivated and track my progress through the month of December.”
Minister for State for Gaeltacht Affairs and Sport Jack Chambers TD added: “Walking is a brilliant form of physical activity that is accessible to all and despite everything that has happened it 2020 it was wonderful to see the numbers of people that have become involved in recreational walking – it’s a great sign for the health of the nation. The Keep Well Walking Challenge will help keep people active right up to the end of the year and we are delighted to be able to launch it today.”
Frank Feighan TD, Minister of State for Public Health and Wellbeing added: “I’m absolutely delighted to support this great initiative as part of the Healthy Ireland Keep Well campaign. I firmly believe that the ‘Get Ireland Walking App’, launched today, will be a very helpful tool in helping people to remember to get out and about and to do some physical activity every day. I encourage everyone to take on this challenge for the last 21 days of the year and make sure that they are starting the new year off on a good footing. So let’s all try and contact our friends and family members to help with the challenge, lace up those shoes, pull on that coat and get out walking”.
John Treacy, Chief Executive Sport Ireland commented: “It is hugely encouraging to see that the levels of recreational walking in Ireland are higher than ever. Physical activity is vital for the health of the nation, mental as well as physical, and one of the positives to come out of 2020 is that people now recognise the importance of physical activity as part of their daily lives. The Keep Well Walking Challenge and the new app will further help walking become part of people’s habits.”
Jason King, National Programme Manager Get Ireland Walking commented: “The benefits of walking cannot be underestimated both for individuals and the country as a whole. We really think that the Get Ireland Walking app will help keep people motivated through December, a time when people can become a little less active, and help them approach 2021 in a positive frame of mind and in good health – mental and physical.”
The Keep Well Walking Challenge is part of Keep Well. The Keep Well campaign is aimed at showing people of all ages how we can mind our own physical and mental health and wellbeing by adding healthy and helpful habits to our daily and weekly routines. It provides guidelines, information, and tips on how we can make a plan to do things that will help us keep well through the coming months.
www.sportireland.ie
https://www.getirelandwalking.ie/
getirelandwalking.ie/app
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For further information contact:
Peter Sweeney – peter.sweeney@teneo.com / 086 929 3041
Dec 9, 2020
Calls on Government to speed up the process
The Alliance for Insurance Reform has welcomed the Government’s ‘Action Plan for Insurance Reform’ (published today by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment’s Sub-Group on Insurance Reform), while expressing concern at the timelines involved.
Commenting on the release of the plan, Eoin McCambridge, managing director of McCambridge’s of Galway and director of the Alliance said “As a declaration of intent, this plan ticks all the boxes. But progress on real insurance reform has happened at a snail’s pace and the majority of the proposals in the Action Plan have been doing the rounds since the start of 2017. That is 4 years of unsustainably high insurance premiums closing down businesses and stopping voluntary groups from doing what they volunteered to do. We call on the Government to not treat the timelines in this plan as targets to be aimed for. Rather we urge them to speed up the pace of reforms to beat these timelines and allow businesses and society in general to reopen after Covid19 without insurance costs hanging over their heads.”
Actions and timelines committed to in the Plan include:
- Report on the implementation and early impact of the new personal injury guidelines to be adopted in July 2021 by the Judicial Council– December 2021
- Ensuring that fraudulent claims are forwarded to the DPP – December 2021
- Implementation of recommendations regarding the publishing of insurance fraud data – December 2021
- Central Bank supervision of the insurance industry’s response to business interruption claims by SMEs – ‘Ongoing’ – no deadline
- Proposals to Government on implementation of ‘any changes deemed necessary’ to Occupiers Liability Act with regard to the duty of care – June 2021
- Legislative proposals on reform of the role of PIAB – June 2021
- Publication of Central Bank data on liability insurance – June 2021
Peter Boland, director of the Alliance said “In the last 4 years we have had the Oireachtas Finance Committee Report on Insurance Costs, two Cost of Insurance Working Group (CIWG) reports and 11 CIWG Updates; and the reports of the Personal Injuries Commission. Many of the meaningful actions in these reports experienced slippage or did not happen at all and the reality is that no reform that has happened so far has applied downward pressure on insurance costs. The actions in this report must not be allowed to be dragged out in the same way.”
ENDS
FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT:
Peter Boland
