Leitrim GAA’s 50 miles in January 2022 gets off to a Flying start!
In January 2021, Leitrim GAA organized a 50mile challenge to encourage participants to shake off the restrictions of the Covid regime and discover the beautiful walks in the county and benefit from walking and exercising in the open air.
It was successful beyond expectation with many of the Leitrim diaspora across the world participating. The second annual 50 miles in January challenge commenced earlier this month and the challenge has been taken up with gusto by Leitrim People from all around the world as well as here in Ireland.
With 1,700 hats already distributed there are Leitrim people walking in the 50 miles challenge in nine different countries, including, Australia, Austria, Canada, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom, United States, Denmark and Spain. There are 212 people already taking part in the United States, and 36 in the United Kingdom, in addition people are walking in 27 out of the 32 counties across Ireland with 1,191 registered for the challenge in Leitrim there are 75 registered in Dublin and 27 registered in Roscommon. Already in the second week of January almost €65,000 has been raised to fund the preparation of County Teams by those taking part.
Leitrim County Council is delighted to partner with the GAA on this initiative. The potential reach to the Leitrim Diaspora at home and abroad and the opportunity to promote the County as a destination for visiting, relocating to or starting a business in gives the Council a readymade opportunity to assist in having the awareness of the county raised across the world. Leitrim County Council has identified several key synergies between this initiative and its potential in assisting the Council in achieving objectives in relation to diaspora engagement, tourism promotion, outdoor recreation in the county, and to support other sectoral initiatives.
County Leitrim has a significant offering in terms of quality of life for those living here or indeed those members of the diaspora who may want to consider a future return home. Quality employment is available in many sectors including Hospitality, Services, Retail, Public Service and technology focused businesses with Vistamed for example recently announcing the recruitment of 100 members of staff at their Carrick on Shannon site. In addition the County offers quality childcare and education facilities, sporting and leisure facilities are all of an excellent standard.
Leitrim County Council and the Local Enterprise Office are hosting a virtual jobs fairs on February 23rd 2022. Keep in touch with updates on this event through the local enterprise office www.localenterprise.ie/leitrim
We invite those taking part in this year’s 50 miles in January challenge to take a look at recently launched guide to walks around the County of Leitrim which can be found on the Leitrim Tourism Website www.enjoyleitrim.com/walks. While all of those participating are walking in their local areas, you may be interested to see the range and quality of walks in the County, from walks in Towns and Village, to Forest Walks, Canal and Lakeside Walks, looped and long Distance walks for all abilities, and if you don’t get to try them during January you may get a chance to explore on your next visit home.
