Naomh Mhuire AC hails local support for new track project
Naomh Mhuire AC has thanked everyone who supported its recent fundraising campaign, which raised €160,000 for the development of the club’s new athletics track at Gortakeel, Daingean, well past its original €150,000 target.
Between grants and fundraising, the Daingean-based club has now raised nearly €400,000 towards the development.
The project remains a work in progress, however, and the club must keep going to reach the €1 million needed to complete it, including a full polyurethane athletics track.
The club launched its “From Bogland to Running Track” appeal in June. Over the months that followed, support came from families, businesses, community groups and former residents across Offaly, throughout Ireland and as far away as Britain, America and Australia.
More than 100 people set up their own fundraising pages for the club, and the campaign was carried to its finish by the ‘26 Counties Challenge’ in September, when club members ran a marathon in each of the 26 counties in the Republic of Ireland on the same day.
Work is well underway on the ground, though there is a long way still to go. On what was cutaway bog at Gortakeel a year ago, the 400-metre track has been formed and the access road completed, and floodlighting has been ordered. The club has planning permission in place and has matched grant support from the Community Sport Facilities Fund and the LEADER programme with community funds at every stage. Between those grants and the community’s fundraising, nearly €400,000 has now been raised towards the development.
Engineering, architectural and planning work on the project has been given free of charge by a club member, so that as much of every euro raised as possible goes into the facility itself.
The next and most important step is to lay an eight-lane polyurethane running surface with a 100-metre sprint straight, bringing the track up to the standard needed for training, schools’ athletics and competition. The surface is estimated to cost in the region of €600,000, an investment well beyond what a community club can raise through fundraising alone.
In all, the club needs to reach the €1 million mark to complete the development. The club has applied for public funding towards this phase and is hopeful of a positive outcome.
Once complete, the facility will be open to the whole community, not just club members. Athletes, walkers, runners, schools, other sports clubs and community groups from Daingean and the surrounding towns and villages will be able to use it.
The infield will also be used for girls’ football training, and the track sits beside the proposed Bord na Móna trail, making Gortakeel a natural hub for outdoor activity in the area.
Naomh Mhuire AC Chairperson Brendan Donagher said: “On behalf of everyone in the club, I want to thank every single person who donated, fundraised, ran, volunteered or shared our appeal. Raising €160,000 is an extraordinary achievement for a club of our size, and it tells you what this project means to the people of Daingean and to the many friends of the parish at home and abroad. A year ago Gortakeel was bog.
Today you can see the shape of a 400-metre track out there, and that is down entirely to the community.
“But it’s very much a work in progress, and there is a lot still to do. Our ambition now is to finish the job properly, with a polyurethane surface that will serve athletes, schools, walkers and families from right across the area for generations. The community has shown what it’s prepared to do, and we’re hopeful the support needed to complete it will follow,” Brendan added.
Anyone who would still like to support the project, and any business interested in being associated with it, can contact the club through its social media channels or fundraising page.