Registration evenings near for mini-marathon

THE 14th annual West Clare Mini-Marathon will be held on Sunday, January 29 from Doonbeg to Kilkee. In the coming weeks, registration evenings will be held in Coolmeen, Kildysart and Miltown Malbay.
On Saturday, November 26, Tír na nÓg in Cranny will host a registration evening after that evening’s mass, while a similar event will be held in Kildysart Community Centre the following morning after mass in the local church.
The mini-marathon has raised well over €1m since the event was first held in 1998. However, committee chairman Willie McGrath has again stressed that participants must fill in a sponsorship card.
“It’s strictly going to be a sponsorship-card event. People have to come and get their sponsorship card. Under no circumstances can anybody think they can come along on the morning of the event itself and just throw in whatever they wish. That’s not going to happen. We don’t mind if we have to go back to small numbers again. If we don’t stick with the sponsorship cards, we’re not going to get the money,” he said.
A mini-bus service, funded by the committee, currently operates from West Clare to Limerick five days per week. The bus brings patients to Limerick for cancer treatment, while taxi services, again supplied by the mini-marathon committee, operate from Kilmihil, Miltown and Ennistymon.
From this weekend, the West Clare Cancer Centre will be open Monday to Thursday from 11am to 2pm and on Saturdays from 2pm to 3pm. The centre, which is located just off O’Curry Street in Kilkee, can be contacted on 065 9060762.
Among the other services provided by the committee are funding for cancer patients and their family members travelling to Lourdes; palliative aids for patients’ home use; funding for palliative care units in Regina House, Kilrush and Ennistymon Community Hospital; professional counselling from the cancer centre to help deal with difficult times; night-nurse services where the need arises for families and alternative therapies.
Furthermore, the committee stress that total confidentiality is assured. People who are stuck down with cancer can contact the mini-marathon’s contact person in their area, as can any member of their family.