Noel Carroll always said the day you're too busy to go for a run is the day you're too busy. And in saying that he definitely meant Christmas Day, too.
Carroll practised what he preached and although he was often a very busy man – serving 24 high-profile years as press officer for Dublin Corporation – he never missed a run.
This was the man with one of the wisest heads in Irish distance running history, a two-time Olympian, before his sudden death – mid-stride, as it were – after one of his daily noontime training runs around UCD, in October 1998. This unreserved love of running is also what inspired Carroll to help dream up the first Dublin Marathon, back in 1980, and also the first Goal Mile, two years later.
Carroll had also acted as a chairperson of Goal, and always thinking about new ways of raising vital funds and awareness for Goal's humanitarian work in developing countries, used his endless powers of persuasion to assemble a small group of famous runners in Dublin's Phoenix Park on Christmas Day – including Eamonn Coghlan.
The following year Carroll moved the Goal Mile to Belfield, running four laps of the track to better validate the distance, and the times. A few years later the Goal Mile had turned into one of the busiest running events of the year.
Now, 32 years later the Goal Mile continues to expand around the country, and indeed the world. This Christmas Day there are 132 Goal Miles scheduled in almost every county (some of which will actually take place on St Stephen’s Day), as well as further afield, including London and Melbourne, where Sonia O’Sullivan will lead a group of runners.
“It’s one of our main fund-raising efforts of the year,” says Barry Andrews, Goal chief executive officer.
Main efforts
“This year, one of our main efforts has been dealing with Ebola patients. We’ve just opened a hospital in Sierra Leone, 10 days ago, and much of the money raised will go to projects like that in West Africa.”
No excuses then for not taking part especially with Goal Mile locations dotted all around the country – the full list of which can be seen at the Goal website at www.goalglobal.org.
There are numerous venues throughout Dublin including Kilboggat Park and Irishtown Stadium with Goal Miles also scheduled for the Morton Stadium, the Phoenix Park, and St Anne’s Park in Raheny.
