Ferbane St Stephen’s Day Charity Event
Running water was in short supply all around Offaly this Christmas but anyone who was experiencing shortages on St Stephen’s Day would have done well to visit Ferbane GAA grounds where there was plenty of it flying around the place in balloon format.
Such chaos can only of course mean it was time for the annual St Stephen’s Day charity event, which this year was a Cycle, jog and obstacle course triathlon in aid of Muscular Dystrophy Ireland. The difficult travelling conditions made it awkward for a lot of people to make the journey into Ferbane, however a healthy crowd still showed up and dug deep into their pockets to ensure that almost €1300 was raised for a charity that was hugely relevant to the local community following on the death earlier this year of Stephen Devery of Ballyvora Grove.
The day’s sporting action, which sadly was missed by all the national television networks, involved a cycle from the GAA pitch to the nearby Heritage centre, where bikes and team members had to be brought back down to the pitch by wheelbarrow. A stewards enquiry was called when one team was handicapped with a flat tyre on their barrow, however the steward was busy throwing flour at other teams and so could not give a verdict. Once the teams made their way back to the GAA pitch, a combination of goal targets, netting, tyres and round bales were put in place to make what should have been a simple lap around the pitch as difficult as possible. Local members of the underage club, showing the same zest for action that they displayed all year in a very successful season, ensured that no flour or water balloons went astray and that all participants were as refreshed as possible on their journey around the field.
The action concluded in the more controlled environments of Gleesons and Hineys later that day, where the Festive Season and spirit of Christmas ensured that further fundraising efforts went really well, thanks in no small part also to the generosity of several sponsors from around the community.
