Tuam Herald, 20th November 2008

THE GOAL Mile is a very popular charity event which takes place in almost 70 venues throughout the country. But this year for the first time the GOAL Mile has been organized in Tuam and will take place at the Rugby Club between 11 am and noon.

Tuam's sports stars and celebrities are all turning out to do the GOAL Mile, including Pete Finnerty, Ja Fallon, Mick Roche, Kieran Fitzgerald, and the Saw Doctors front man Leo Moran,

The Mayor of Tuam Pete Warren and CUr Tom McHugh are also participating in the event. Speaking at the launch in the Ard Ri House Hotel in Tuam the Mayor said, "It will be easy for everyone to participate, all you have to do is turn up on Christmas morning, walk, run or crawl the Mile and make a donation to GOAL."

For thousands of families around the country, the annual GOAL fundraiser (now in its 27th year) has become as much a part of their Christmas tradition as mince pies and roast turkey. There's no better way to deal with the excesses of the Christmas season than throwing on a pair of running shoes and doing a lap for GOAL.

Last year, over EUR400,000 was collected for GOAL'S projects across the developing world. However, this year's event is going to be even bigger, with brand new miles taking place in Belfast, Tuam, Ballinasloe, Monaghan and Abu Dabi to name just a few.

The flagship Mile will take place at the Belfield running track in UCD, where over 3,000 people are expected to turn out in aid of the poorest of the poor. Life-long GOAL supporter and former world champion athlete Eamon Coghlan will be running his 27th consecutive Mile this year.

The first GOAL Mile was the brainchild of former GOAL chairperson and international athlete Noel Carroll and took place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin in 1982, where it will return again this year. Noel's four children all ran this year's Dublin City Marathon in aid of GOAL and they will be hitting the track once again this Christmas morning – albeit in a much less demanding fashion.

GOAL is currently operating in 11 countries across Africa, Asia and South America, including Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Malawi, Honduras and India. GOAL is proud of the fact that since being established in 1977, it has striven to keep administration costs as low as possible – meaning that your donations have the maximum possible impact on the lives of some of the world's most vulnerable people. Over the years, GOAL has spent over EUR505 million delivering aid to over 50 countries across the developing world. In that time it has also sent approximately 1400 GOALies to work alongside a huge number of local staff to help the world's poor.

Many thanks for your support to GOAL.