GAA Clubs will march to a healthy beat in January as the Association once again supports ‘Ireland Lights Up’, the popular walking initiative in partnership with RTÉ’s Operation Transformation and Get Ireland Walking.

This will be the fourth year of the campaign with clubs across all 32 counties encouraged to turn on their floodlights to provide a safe walking environment during the dark winter evenings.

Operation Transformation, which returns to screens each Wednesday from January 6th to February 24th, will showcase participating clubs each week.

Measures will be taken and communicated to clubs around whatever public health guidelines will be in place in January.

This year will see a registration process with Get Ireland Walking to track all club and participant involvement.

There will also be a new club ‘MyLife Steps Challenge’ with Irish Life, CSR partners of the GAA Healthy Club Project, to ensure ‘Every Step Counts’

Healthy Ireland, through Sport Ireland, will also provide a once-off grant for clubs to support the cost of delivering Ireland Lights Up.

“GAA volunteers have gone above and beyond when supporting their communities during this pandemic and I have no doubt our clubs will once again support this great walking initiative come the new year,” said GAA President John Horan.

“Club walking tracks remained open during the second lockdown period and thousands of community members have benefitted from accessing them.”

“Ireland Lights Up isn’t about maximising numbers this time around, it’s about providing community members, particularly those most vulnerable to Covid-19, with a safe place to enjoy some outdoor exercise while adhering to the public health guidelines.”

“This is a wonderful initiative that helps everyone up and down the country to get out safely, be active and to reach their recommended 30 mins of physical activity each day during the dark winter months,” added Frank Feighan, Minister of State for Health and Wellbeing.

“At Healthy Ireland we are encouraging everyone to make a plan for themselves to keep well this winter and one of the easiest ways to do that is by getting out and getting active in the fresh air as often as you can.”

Clubs that complete the registration process for Ireland Lights Up and adhere to the necessary criteria will be covered by Get Ireland Walking’s insurance for all walk leaders and participants.

 

Sport for Business Partners