Six West to sponsor Castle: a 1000km solo run across the emerald Isle for a children’s charity
On June 3rd, Six West’s Jason Williamson will undertake a multi-day, solo ultra-marathon run along The Ireland Way. Six West will be sponsoring and supporting this journey which will be used to create awareness and raise funds for Children’s Health Foundation supporting Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin.
The Ireland Way is a 1000km traditional hiking route that starts in Castletownbere in the south west of Ireland and ends in Ballycastle in Northern Ireland. The route joins up many of the cross-country national hiking trails, maintained by the local Councils and various County’s along the way. The trails and paths cross over rugged mountain ranges, through endless fields and farms, countless bogs, forest tracks and the likes. The trails also include several of Ireland’s quintessential country towns and villages and the route has been designed to capture many of the historic points of interest in Ireland.
Speaking about the run, Jason said, “Tackling a multi-day long distance event has been on my radar for some time now. There are so many inspiring places around the globe to do this type of run, but when I learned of the existence of The Ireland Way, it made complete sense to take a dive into my own backyard and get to experience Ireland like this. Doing this in Ireland also means family, friends and neighbours are able to help on a practical level.
It is an athletic endeavour and one where I will be focused on reaching Ballycastle as fast as possible once I start, but using the run as a platform to build a conversation around the incredible work that our children’s hospitals are doing in Ireland is a wonderful opportunity. Temple Street Children’s Hospital holds a special place in our family’s hearts after saving the life of our eldest boy back in 2011. (Story and fundraising link here: www.justgiving.com/page/castle
The challenge encompasses so much more than a traditional ultra-marathon event given the distance and the multi-day nature of it. Balancing pace, sleep and recovery while moving as swiftly as possible is a real puzzle. All sorts of things can happen to the body over these distances and time frames as it deals with the growing fatigue each day. Knowing there will be things that happen that we will just need to deal with at the time add so many elements of the unknown. Having the body, the mind and the spirit stay in synch with each other and work for days and nights with the support crew moving through this terrain is going to be a big adventure for all of us. This is one of those ‘the journey is more important than the destination’ events and I really want to keep some mental capacity each day to create memories and enjoy moments, despite knowing there will be dark times and points of pain along the way. A lot of people in the Irish running community have already indicated they will be joining me for some parts depending on where they live and I really look forward to sharing miles with friends and strangers alike. I will be running really slow, so anyone is welcome!”
COO of Six West, Matthew Gee said, “Having Six West support Jason’s run allows us to steer the discussion into Irish industry of the vital job that children’s hospitals are doing, most of the time unseen, taking care of some of our countries most vulnerable people: our unwell children. We hope that our support can help stir up a discussion in corporate Ireland of raising money for one of the quieter pillars of our society. The staff at Temple Street perform magic on a daily basis and pour so much love and care into these kids and every penny of support we can raise for them will help one of our children work through an illness or a lifesaving procedure. Corporate Ireland has the potential to make a huge difference to the outcome of this fundraising event.”
Ruth Guy, Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications at Children’s Health Foundation says, “We’re so grateful that Jason and Six West have chosen to raise vital funds and awareness for Children’s Health Foundation supporting Temple Street during this incredible challenge. There are hundreds of children taking on their own challenges every day in Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street and the vital funds raised will go directly to ensuring they are given the best possible chance. The whole Children’s Health Foundation team will be cheering Jason on every step of the way!”
Jason’s run will be live tracked and the link will be provided before it starts across all social media platforms
Donations to Temple St can be given here: www.justgiving.com/page/castle
For those interested, Jason’s training and running data can be found here: https://www.strava.com/athletes/85976628
Daily updates, live broadcasts and regular story posts will be here on Instagram leading up to and during the run.
Live tracking feed: https://live.primaltracking.com/irelandway23/
Jason’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonwilliamsonultra/
About Children’s Health Foundation:
Children’s Health Foundation raises vital funds to support sick children and their families in Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly – from funding vital life-saving equipment and providing essential patient and parental supports to making ground-breaking, paediatric research possible.
We are committed to supporting the little patients and families who attend Children’s Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres.
If you would like to find out more about how you can support sick children and their families in CHI, simply visit www.childrenshealth.ie or call 01 709 1700.
About Six West:
Six West is a world-leading provider of support services to aircraft lessors and airlines. An aircraft operator of choice, Six West is responsive and predictive, supporting lease transitions, deliveries, demonstrations and distressed recovery operations.
With offices in Dublin, Cork and Shannon, and a connected, multi-national team, the company has strategically positioned itself to provide its services to a dynamic and global client portfolio.