ONE of the final GOAL Miles of the festive period will take place in north county Dublin on New Year’s Day.
Skerries Rugby Club will be the venue for a GOAL Mile on Wednesday, January 1 from 12.30pm to 2pm.
The annual charity fundraiser took place at more than 140 locations over the Christmas holidays.
Morton Stadium in Santry, St Anne’s Park in Raheny and Malahide Castle were just some of the local venues that hosted GOAL Miles this year.
Now in its 38th year, the GOAL Mile is one of Ireland’s largest and longest-running annual fundraising events and organisers say they are expecting a record number of people to either walk, run or jog the mile this year.
It is steeped in tradition, with families and communities building in an event as part of their Christmas routine.
Last year GOAL reached more than 5.5 million people in need, helped by the €250,000 raised from the 2018 GOAL Mile.
GOAL’s work includes supporting those displaced by the
ongoing conflict in Syria; running nutrition programmes saving the lives of infants under
six months in refugee camps in Ethiopia; and providing ongoing emergency response to thousands of people affected by Cyclone Ida in Zimbabwe.
GOAL’s Senior Development Manager, Alan Vard, said: “Thanks to GOAL Mile organisers, millions of euro have been raised to support GOAL’s work in the developing world since the first Mile was staged in 1982.
“The beauty of the GOAL Mile is its simplicity. People don’t need to register in advance but simply show up to their nearest event, run or walk a mile and contribute whatever they can afford to GOAL on the day.”