Kerry - Comortas Paidi O'Sé - or the GAA Hunger Games. Call them what you will. This is serious stuff

Ireland, Geography & Kerry

The island of Ireland is located in the north-west of Europe, between latitudes 51° and 56° N, and longitudes 11° and 5° W. It is separated from the neighbouring island of Great Britain by the Irish Sea and the North Channel, which has a width of 23 kilometres (14 mi)^[96] at its narrowest point. To the west is the northern Atlantic Ocean and to the south is the Celtic Sea, which lies between Ireland and Brittany, in France. Ireland has a total area of 84,421 km² (32,595 sq mi)^[1][97] - this is an introduction for those of you who mightn't be familiar with the sodden lovely island.

A ring of coastal mountains surround low plains at the centre of the island. The highest of these is Carrauntoohil (Irish: Corrán Tuathail) in County Kerry, which rises to 1,038 m (3,406 ft) above sea level.^[98]  Western areas can be mountainous and rocky with green panoramic vistas.
The island's lush vegetation, a product of its mild climate and frequent rainfall, earns it the sobriquet the Emerald Isle. Overall, Ireland has a mild but changeable oceanic climate with few extremes. The climate is typically insular and is temperate avoiding the extremes in temperature of many other areas in the world at similar latitudes.^[101] This is a result of the moderating moist winds which ordinarily prevail from the South-Western Atlantic.

 

However, we've had GUBU weather recently, horrendous storms battering almost every single costal region... causing havoc. Big big waves, crazily intense storms and the like.

 Some photographs to convince you of the absolute wildness of the weather that we've been enjoying in Ireland, or sympathising with from afar in Belgium, which has remained unusally warm. . . .

This talk about weather serves to bring me to the topic of this post, the Comortas Páidi O'Sé. We're flying out THIS VERY EVENING.

 The Paidí O'Sé tournament is like the GAA Olympics or a cross between a normal tournament and the Hunger Games. Only the fittest survive. It's a real honour to have been invited to play and an even greater one to be invited back!

 This is where we'll be over the next two/three evenings, hopefully celebrating....

Kerry is seriously beautiful - here are the northern lights seen from Kerry as stolen from Broadsheet.ie

Dublin visitors to Kerry often get carried away in their love for the game. And in their appreciation of the wonderful pass Elaine just gave :)

 

As yet, we have no pitches to play on (still TBC) but will trust in Fent/Timmy to bring us around Kerry to play the matches we have over the next two days. Last year, we were delighted to be invited to play for the first time, and the ladies made it to the final. The picture above Paidí is testament to the wild fun to be had in February in Kerry, with one very enthusiastic Dublin footballer showing his appreciation and love for the game, without clothes, on a rooftop. As, of course, you do.

 

 This year we're travelling in even greater numbers and will update you in due course on the Twitterbox and Facespace to let you know how we all get on....

 

Please cross your fingers for us, we'll see you back in Brussels on Monday.

 

Jelena, our favourite Serbian Ultimate GAA secretary, is attending the GAA Convention in Croke Park, bringing down the average age by a good few years -  good luck with everything there.  

 

 

Dendermonde and the dashing dudes and damsels

Here it is. Officially, we're running 10kms in Dendermonde, supporting SUAS and our club. Win win situation. The fabulous Miss Farrell is in both pictures teaching the classroom and playing in a football match, and having been there, and knowing ourselves how brilliant sports are, there's no need to emphasise what a magical universal thing that sport is. But just in case you didn't know it, there you go. It's official. We need to pay for pitch rental, and that requires fund-raising, but we also wanted to pair with other people who do great work, and this year, we chose SUAS Educational Development. Money you donate to support our runners will go (50%/50% to providing children in community based schools with a decent education). We're supporting schools and supporting sports. We'd really appreciate your support!

Sylvia and Jane running in 2013

Now some of us are fairly competitive people, so it comes as no surprise that we've stats and records to beat. The ladies took this challenge on 2 years ago, and only 8 ladies managed to raise over 2,000 euro. There are 9 ladies on the spreadsheet this year, and we'd love your help to beat our previous fundraising efforts. We're interested in getting anyone who'd like to join come with us too, be you the men of the club, or just if you were interested in getting fit and starting to run in a fun *non-judgemental/*non-speedy sort of way. Failing that, we'd also be delighted if you'd sponsor us. 

Ok, you've convinced me, how can I sponsor you?

Click on this link to get to our sponsorship document (didn't I say that Jane could organise anything?) Fill in your name, enter the amount you wish to part with, and transfer your donation with the IBAN and the BIC to the account provided! If you'd prefer to transfer after we complete the race, that's ok too, but a little help will go a really long way. 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPONSORS
1. Enter your name below the person you wish to sponsor
2. Enter the amount you will donate next to your name 
3. You can transfer your donation to the following account mentioning. "10k Sponsorship"------------> (SEPA transfer friendly!) 

Bank account: 363-0292739-33
IBAN: BE79 3630 2927 3933
BIC: BBRUBEBB
 

                                JP Mul, Fergal, Kev Keary, Fitz, Whisk, Anay, Grainne, Jane, Jess and Marian all happy                                                         (and much  warmer runners in 2012)

Thank you to you in advance for reading this, supporting us, and *hopefully* sponsoring us!