North West 10k fundraising nears €1 million mark

The North West 10k committee expect the annual charity fundraiser to tip the €1 million scales after the 2024 edition.

On the May Bank Holiday, 828 finishers crossed the line in the 2023 North West 10k.

The first North West 10k was held in 1997, following the demise of the Rockhill 10k the previous year.

Since its inception, the event raised €903,000 for 38 charities prior to the running of the 2023 race.

This year, Multiple Sclerosis Donegal Branch, St Bernadette’s Special School Letterkenny and the Letterkenny Community Development Project were the three chosen charities.

Seventh place finish for Mark English in Doha

Finn Valley AC's Mark English competed in the 800m at the Diamond League opener in Doha on Friday evening

“Between this year and next we will be touching over €1 million,” North West 10k Chairperson Neil Martin told Donegal Live.

“That money is going into local charities, charities that are based in County Donegal.

We have good help and we have good charities on board. They all worked together and hopefully they have raised a lot of money.

“We get the crowd out every year. You get people doing the North West that you don’t see from one year until the next.”

The event was not held during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and it took place virtually in 2021.

In 2022, 757 took part in a return to normality.

“It is one of the bigger races now,” Martin said.

“We were up at 1,900 in 2014, but that phase has gone and we’re back now after lockdown with nearly 1,000 again. We’re delighted with it.

“Road races are hard to run at the minute, but we are lucky with the committee that we have. We have 11 people working on the committee and we go from maybe November to May.”