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The traditional Goal mile charity event took place on Christmas Day, but with a different format due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Typically, thousands of people flock to one of 170 locations across the country to run the classic one-mile distance in support of Goal and its work in the developing world.
This year, the event has gone virtual, with runners encouraged to do their mile at a time and place of their choosing, without violating public health guidelines.
Participants on this Christmas Day included men and women from the 117 IrishPolBatt serving in the multinational peacekeeping force Unifil in southern Lebanon.
The battalion members, under the command of Lt. Col. Fred O’Donovan, made their Goal Mile early on Christmas morning.
Goal fundraising director Eamon Sharkey and friends make their Goal Mile at Eamon Ceannt Park in Crumlin
“This is a Christmas day like no other, as Covid-19 impacts the entire world,” said Lt. Col. O’Donovan. “The battalion members are not home this Christmas with our families as we continue our tour of duty here in southern Lebanon. But we are delighted to do our Goal Mile today and to support the vulnerable communities that Goal supports in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. “
In Ireland, those who participated in a Goal Mile included numerous sports stars, including former world indoor mile record holder Eamonn Coghlan and Operation Transformation psychologist Dr. Eddie Murphy.
Twenty members of the Flanagan family also ran the Goal mile, despite being scattered around the world and unable to travel home for the holiday season due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Ranging in age from five to 85 and based in Ireland, Thailand, Australia, Germany and the UK, they walked a mile at 10am Irish time.
David Wilkins, Mladen and Jelica Ivosevic (from Croatia) and Grace Connor, with Labrador Sadie, doing their Goal Mile at Bray Seafront
Niamh Flanagan, an assistant professor of applied social studies at Maynooth University and the only one of four siblings living in Ireland, said the family connected via Zoom on their iPads and smartphones as they traveled their miles together in their different time zones.
Niamh and her family were joined in Dublin by her mother, Máirín (85) and her aunts. His brother Dónal and his family in London also participated; Ronan and his family in Perth; Angela and her family in Cologne and her brother-in-law Peter Tarleton and his wife Nok in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“Every Christmas at least some of our family members are together to celebrate in Ireland, and in recent years we have built the wonderful tradition of doing a Goal Mile on Christmas Day,” said Niamh. “It is always a special moment when we go out together as a family and do something for each other.”
“When it became clear that family members would not be able to travel to Ireland for Christmas this year due to Covid-19, we got creative on how we could continue the Goal Mile tradition.”
The charity reminded fans that it is not too late to sign up for a virtual Goal Mile at some point during the holiday period.
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