SPIRASI at the 2007 Dublin City Marathon

SPIRASI had a team team of 10 people running in this year’s Dublin City Marathon—some clients, some SPIRASI friends, some novices and some experienced athletes who run the marathon year on year.

Our ambition was to raise €6,000 in aid of SPIRASI with the help of volunteers and friends who have kindly agreed to help out by raising sponsorship for the SPIRASI running team. Some of the money they raised will help to cover the costs involved in SPIRASI clients’ participation. The rest will be used to help SPIRASI to continue its important services. We are well on track to raising our target, with a confirmed €3000 so far known of and many more sponsorship cards to be returned.

Of the enthusiastic 10 participants, six walked and four ran—all of who did the organisation proud. These are Patrick Boyd, Liban Mohamud, Cathy Hynes and Jean Marie Sebagobo. Each of the runners completed the race in under 5 hours. Four SPIRASI staff members walked: Gillian Mangan, Fatima Gholizadeh, Mieke Herman and Erin Thomas. Two female clients, Agustina and Eloho part walked and part jogged the course. Both Eloho and Gillian were forced out of the race as a result of injury but all remaining SPIRASI walkers made it to the finish line in great time, completing the daunting 42.25 kilometres.

We were extremely disappointed that two of our client runners were forced—due to injury—to make the difficult decision not to participate in this year’s marathon. Another member of the public who was to join our marathon team was also unable to participate as he missed the closing date for registration. We wish them a speedy recovery and all the best for Marathon 2008.

2006 was the first attempt by SPIRASI to join the ranks of the Dublin City Marathon runners. We recruited 8 staff and volunteers to participate as a pilot initiative to see if the marathon could work as a viable fund-raising opportunity. The success of this first attempt led to our participation in 2007. We will also be focusing attention on the Women’s Mini Marathon in May 2008.

Now that we intend to run this as an annual event—as well as participate in the mini-marathon, we hope that our running team will continue to grow and that the income we generate continues to ensure that our services are delivered to those who most need them when they most need them.

Marathon Raffle

While getting sponsorship for our team of marathon runners, we also organised a raffle to raise funds for our services. The prizes were gym memberships followed by dinners for two in Jaipur, Blue Orchid and Papaya ethnic restaurants, a nutrition consultation and a hamper courtesy of Super Valu. The draw took place on Tuesday 6th November in SPIRASI. The winning tickets were picked out by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin who was visiting SPIRASI at the time. The winners of the raffle are:

1. Gym membership, 1 Escape — Alma Reddington
2. Gym membership, Newtown Park — John McDonnell,
3. Gym membership, Contours, Howth — Deirdre Moss
4. Meal voucher, Jaipur — Stephen Rigney
5. Meal voucher, Blue Orchid — Margaret Shilleto
6. Meal voucher, Papaya — Mary Kate Egan
7. Nutrition consultation — Bernadette Keady
8. Hamper — William Levis

SPIRASI would like to thank Contours Express Gym in Howth, 1escape health club in Smithfield and the Newpark Sports Centre in Stillorgan for providing the gym membership prizes, Papaya, Jaipur, and Blue Orchid for the restaurant vouchers and Supervalu and Sheely Boxall, Nutrition therapist for the other prizes in our raffle.

Sidelined but not outran!

The following is a report of the day’s events from Mbonisi Ncube, a refugee from Zimbabwe who had volunteered to run the marathon with the SPIRASI team:

The weather was superb, the people came out in thousands, the organisation was excellent and the runners were themselves determined. This was the Adidas Dublin Marathon 07, the day I had been waiting for for about four months.

I was initially told of the marathon by a friend, Deo, at the time when he was still at Spirasi, then Gillian finalised all the registration and entry formalities for me, all I had to do was train, yes train very hard. What gave me courage most was that I would be doing it for a good cause, raising funds for Spirasi and its worthy causes. All was well until two weeks before the big day when I was very unfortunate to injure myself while training. I think what was more painful was not the knee itself, but the thoughts of not being able to take part any more, after all the efforts and time that I had dedicated towards the marathon.

After careful consideration and of course consultation with the people who had helped me enter the marathon, I thought it would be injudicious to run because I would cause more damage to the knee. I withdrew.

However, I refused to be left out of the event completely, I decided I would go and cheer on Team Spirasi and other runners. I left home a little bit late therefore I didn’t manage to see the start of the marathon, but there was always the spectacular finish in waiting. I went to wait just outside the main entrance of Trinity College. I barely had been there for twenty minutes when the winner, Aleksey Sokolov appeared around the bend with determination and spirited run. People were thrilled. Everybody was running besides him urging him on for the last few hundred metres. Suddenly I forgot that about my fellow Spirasi runners and got taken away in the excitement. Another runner came within a space of about a minute; this was to be the beginning of a thriller. When the third one appeared (I read in the paper the following morning that he was Dejene Yirdawe from Ethiopia) I followed him, running up the street in hot pursuit. I was just doing my job of being a spectator. Because unlike him, I wasn’t tired and still had fresh legs, I ran like I was possessed behind him alongside the race track. I was not aware that I had encroached into the race track when the race stewards asked for my race number; it was then that I realised that they had mistaken me for another athlete. It shows adrift I was in excitement.

I then went further up the street to the finish line, expecting to see one of the guys clad in orange T/shirts, Team Spirasi. It was very difficult to figure out who was who because the place was so crowded that I only managed to hear some names being called out. By then so many runners had crossed the finish line and most of them were proudly walking around with their medals and black bags marked with the sponsor’s name. I watched with envy that I could not run for my own medal and at the same time with pride that I was able to witness the winner arriving, what a nail biting finish it was! I think as my eyes were fixed on the newly crowned medallists and everything else that was happening around, I missed the arrival of the members of the Team Spirasi. I waited longer hoping to see Gillian and her fellow walkers arrive, but unfortunately, because there were so many participants I couldn’t see her.

I went back home with the feeling of a winner. Yes of course I was a winner. The city of Dublin was a winner. Charity organisations were winners, businesses were winners, and residents were winners, all who took part in any way, be it running or helping runners, were winners. Congratulations to all and 2008 here we come we hope to double the number of participants for Spirasi. Off Sokolov and I make a new record 02:08:06. Watch this space!

Mbonisi Ncube

Last year, 8 SPIRASI staff and volunteers (including three first-timers) participated in the Dublin City Marathon and six of these successfully completed the whole 26 miles — Full report of the 2006 Marathon with photos.