A renewed drive is being made with Westmeath GAA’s novel fundraising event, the Westmeath Movathon Challenge, which will run until Easter Monday, 5 April.
GAA Clubs across the county are being urged to drive the project, which is aimed at raising in the region of €100,000, funding that will be used for the redevelopment of facilities at TEG Cusack Park and for all county teams, including ladies football and camogie. Leitrim raised €100,000 with a similar event and Westmeath Gaels are being urged to at least match the smallest GAA county in the country.
Westmeath County Board Chairman, Frank Mescall called on all clubs to target €2,000 each and that would bring in €94,000 alone. However, there is a considerable effort required in the next 10 days to reach that target given that just over €22,000 has been donated up to Monday of this week.
Last weekend Westmeath senior football manager, Jack Cooney was one of those to undertake the challenge as he and his son Brían completed a 42km skiathon at the Eurospar store in Kinnegad in an effort to give the fundraiser a much-needed boost.
NOMINATE FIVE PEOPLE
The idea is to undertake a 5km activity of your choice, be it walking, running, cycling, swimming, or indeed any event, and then make a donation to the following link: https://gofund.me/814e69c2
Participants are being encouraged to then nominate five people to undertake the same challenge in the hope that they too will make a donation.
“I am urging the clubs to make a renewed effort in the closing week to ensure we make this a big success,” enthused Frank Mescall.
“The clubs will determine how successful this is and if we get a big response in the final week, it could be a massive event for us.”
With GAA funding severely dented in 2020 and a major shortfall again this year, due to the covid-19 crisis, Westmeath GAA needs a major response from the sporting community in order to get their redevelopment project at TEG Cusack Park off the ground.
Westmeath GAA Head of Operations, Patrick Doherty explained that 2021 is a year of major ambition for the county despite the setback caused by the covid-19 situation.
“We had serious plans for development and we still do, that’s the bottom line. We are working on our strategic coaching plan and will report to our management committee this week on that matter. We were part of the GAA’s recent demographic study and, out of the findings, our new coaching programme will be developed,” he said.
“We would also look to have an overall strategic plan for the county come to fruition in 2021. There were plans in the pipeline for a centre of excellence for all Westmeath teams. That project is moving a little slower than we’d like but it’s very much in our thinking that we would have a training base for Westmeath teams and hopefully we will see that in the next few years.
“At the moment our home ground at TEG Cusack Park does need some refurbishment too and, of course, this is all on top of supporting our teams. So, there are a lot of serious challenges and a lot of work is ongoing.”
The county has been targeting a Centre of Excellence for some time now, but such a development will inevitably be moved back a couple of years given the financial impact of covid-19.
For the current Movathon Challenge, Westmeath GAA will also take donations in the traditional manner, so patrons are not simply confined to logging on to the GoFundMe page. This will ensure everyone has a chance to support the initiative, even those who do not have access to a computer.
The Chairman acknowledged the many clubs who have already got members involved, including those who are undertaking the couch to 5k challenge in aid of the Westmeath GAA Movathon.
