There was great excitement in St. Vincent’s school this week with the official launch of the annual 5km run, which is due to take place on Sunday 30th September. The event, which is in its third year has proven itself to be a huge success both with students, staff and the wider community.
The launch began with an inspirational talk from top Irish athlete Brian Gregan, who described his struggles to overcome injury and his impressive record at international level in the 400m. He stressed the importance of perseverance in sport and never giving up on your dreams. Rebecca Carr, a past pupil of St. Vincent’s and Louth Ladies GAA All-Ireland finalist also spoke about the importance of sport and keeping fit, while encouraging the school body to support the Louth team in their All-Ireland endeavours in Croke Park.
Home Economics teacher Jacinta Monaghan led a presentation on healthy eating with the help of her students. They included a quiz on the amount of sugar in popular fizzy drinks, with shocking results and encouraged all the girls to reduce their intake of sugar and increase their daily exercise.
National Champions Patience Jumbo-Gula, Kate O’Connor, Aoibhin McMahon and Erinn Leavy also attended the event, and spoke about finding a balance between training, diet and school work. Patience then relived her summer success on the big screen to rapturous applause, as she won silver in the 4x100m relay at the World U20 Championships.
Principal Deirdre Matthews thanked all of the sponsors for their support, including Debs Ireland, Dundalk Credit Union, Halpenny Travel, IT tape and FloGas. She wished both the students and teachers the best of luck with their training, which will take place at lunchtime over the coming weeks and thanked the Parents’ Council for their tireless work organising what is sure to be a wonderful day out.