Running home started as a simple pang of feeling homesick whilst out for a run and thinking the only place I wanted to run to was home! Since then that thought has developed into something very real. The concept of #RunningHome is to get as many Irish expats from around the world, who haven’t been at home for well over a year due to Covid, to run the distance from where they live now to their hometown in Ireland. For me, that’s 1,684km from Annecy France to Ballina in Mayo. The event kicked off on February 1st and people can join in whenever they want.
So far there are almost 200 Irish expats from 20 different countries taking part and it’s growing every day. They are running, walking or just counting daily steps to get there. Some doing it alone, others in teams and a few have Irish family running to meet them!
Our very own Irish Olympic runner, Sonia O’ Sullivan has joined in and is running from Melbourne to Cobh, a mere 17,405km. She has teamed up with the other Irish expats in Melbourne to share the kilometers so they’ll all get home sooner. On St Patrick’s Day 2021, we donned our county jerseys and will run home connected together online.
So to join in all you have to do is register here at: www.runninghome.ie and join our Strava #RunningHome club to be part of our community of runners. You can follow progress on our Facebook & Instagram pages too. Follow runninghome.ie
Most importantly you can donate here to either of our amazing charities Peter McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland https://www.idonate.ie/RunningHome