A big shout out to the children in 5th and 6th class who have been taking part in the Marathon Kids Programme.
What is it all about?
MarathonKids is organised in conjunction with Fingal County Council and is a new initiative designed to get children active. The MarathonKids initiative seeks to encourage fitness, educate young people on the benefits of sport and promote an increase in activity levels in the early teenage population.
What’s involved?
The MarathonKids programme is an 8 week journey that involves students running the 26.2 miles.
We piloted this programme last year with one class from 5th and one from 6th class taking part. This year, all pupils in all 5th and 6th classes go running 4 times per week in school, starting with shorter distances of 600m and increasing the distance each week.
How are we getting on?
Fantastically well! The children are now building up their stamina, as we enter week three of the programme. We started off with 600m in week one, 800m in week two, and this week we run 1km per day. It is brilliant to see children, some of whom have had little experience of running, taking part and building up their resilience.
Education Pack
The programme is supported by a comprehensive in-school teacher pack, where topics such as heart health, nutrition, hydration, physical well-being are explored with the children.
A date for your diary
The goal of Marathon Kids is that by week eight, children will have run a total of 25.2 miles in school- one mile short of a full marathon. The last mile will be run at the MarathonKids Final Mile Event in the National Sports Campus in Abboststown, where pupils from schools right across Fingal will take part in the run. This will take place on Sunday morning, the 19th of November.
More information is available at http://marathonkidsireland.ie/
I want to congratulate the pupils and teachers in 5th and 6th class for getting involved. I would also like to thank them for bringing me with them on their laps- so far I have clocked up 6km and counting! I know that all the parents will join with us in encouraging our children to keep up the hard work in the weeks ahead!
Enda McGorman
Principal
