Longford GOAL mile has been making a change for three decades

All the way back in 1995 a handful of runners gathered to set off on a one mile run that would establish a Longford tradition that is still going almost 30 years later.

The runners, mostly students from St Mel's college, with the backing of Commandant Ciaran Dalton, were taking part in the first Longford GOAL mile.

It has become an integral part of Christmas in Longford, and the 2024 Longford GOAL mile will continue a tradition established by those hardy runners.

This year the local organisers have introduced another run on Monday, December 9, for runners who can't join on Christmas day. This run is in conjunction with Longford AIB staff who will do a pre-work and pre-Christmas GOAL Mile at 8:45am in the Mall.

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Longford has the proud record of being the second oldest GOAL Mile. This Christmas day, at 12 noon and starting from Connolly Barracks runners will take on the simple one mile route around the streets of Longford.

The event has established itself as a much loved Longford tradition: “It's hard to imagine Longford without its now traditional GOAL Mile, but Longford was a different place almost three decades ago.

“On that Christmas day, apart from attending church services, there was nothing or no one stirring. Christmas day was a family day spent at home and that was it,” organiser Tiernan Dolan said of the origins.

Organising a fundraiser on the quietest day of the year sounded like a very bad idea. Initially the Longford event was slow to take off.

“I had earlier experienced the horrors of war, in South Sudan in 1993 and the unspeakable genocide of Rwanda in 1994,” Tiernan recalled.

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“I saw first hand the amazing humanitarian work of GOAL in both places, so my commitment to raising funds and awareness was total.”

In the years since the first gathering there have been days of wind, rain and snow, but irrespective of weather, the tradition lives on: “Many have been participating since those early days of the 1990s. Last year we welcomed members of the Ukrainian community and this year they'll be taking part again,” Tiernan tells.

Earlier this year Tiernan made a presentation on his life long association with the Goal charity, having served overseas 16 times.

During that presentation he spoke of the Goal mile, an annual event so popular because of the community support and the enthusiastic runners who gather every Christmas morning for the pre-turkey exertion.

Participants are encouraged to take things at their own pace: “Certainly it's now a much loved Longford tradition and for many, Christmas just wouldn't be the same without it.”

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