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Pictures: Marie Carroll-O’Sullivan
A former star player with the Kerry ladies’ footballers is now focusing her attention on marathon running to generate finance and awareness for a cause close to her heart.
Sarah Houlihan has committed to completing a full marathon to raise funds for the children in the special classes at Cullina National School in Beaufort where she works.
She wants to help them to complete simple everyday social tasks like posting a letter, returning a book to the library, grocery shopping, swimming, horse riding and other activities.
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“Inclusivity is imperative at every level of education and such experiences are vital but we are a country school so transportation costs are always a hurdle,” she said.
A highly regarded special needs teacher for the past seven years, former All-Star Sarah said she works with fantastic children and she has become part of their families’ lives.
The idea for the marathon came about during an informal discussion Sarah had with class teacher, Lorraine Counihan, and another classroom SNA, Sarah Kelliher, about how the pupils deserved more opportunities outside of the school to promote their social and communication skills.
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They agreed, however, that transport costs were a major stumbling block.
Cullina NS principal Leona Twiss jokingly mentioned previously about Sarah running a half-marathon as a fundraiser and that sowed the seeds for the big task ahead.
“This is where the run idea came from but instead of a half-marathon, I said I would do a full one for to support the junior and senior classrooms,” said Sarah.
“I want this event to raise much-needed funds so the children in our classrooms can go on outings once or twice a month and do things like visit the library and stand in queues to exchange their books. The more we raise the more opportunities we can offer our children”.
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To take on the marathon, Sarah will leave Cullina National School on Friday, February 9 at 9.00am, heading towards Killarney, through the national park and on towards Moll’s Gap.
When she reaches 21km she will turn and head back towards the school, running through Fossa and Beaufort villages.
No stranger to tough tasks, Sarah competed in the Hardman event up the Gap of Dunloe in November 2022 and she has taken part in a number of smaller runs since then.
Training for the marathon has been tough, especially over Christmas and with the testing conditions, but Sarah said the cause she is running is definitely keeping her motivated.
To donate online to Sarah’s fundraiser go to https://www.idonate.ie/event/cullinanationalschoolasd.