12 December 2005
Council celebrate Irwin family achievement
At a special function on Monday 12 December in the County House Lifford, the Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council joined with his colleagues and members of staff to acknowledge the recent achievements of the Irwin family at the recent Dublin City marathon.
The 12 members of the Irwin family from Stranorlar completed the Dublin marathon raising a whopping €11,000 for Concern and achieving for themselves a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the first family of 12 to have completed any marathon.
Sisters Margaret, Cecilia, Katrina, Veronica and Rosemary all based in Donegal and Maria, Geraldine, Patricia and Josephine, who live in Scotland, walked the 26 mile route while brothers Frank, Martin and Barry ran the route.
Margaret Irwin is an employee of Donegal County Council. Margaret works in the Human Resources section as a Clerical Officer and Liam Ward, Human Resource Manager described Margaret as “a diligent worker and a popular member of the HR team”. “I had every faith in Margaret achieving this outstanding feat as she is a person who demonstrates a high level of commitment in all she does.”
The achievement of the three brothers and nine sisters aged from 28 to 48, caught the imagination of the nation when they completed the marathon in memory of their father Francie Irwin, a marathon runner, who died 10 years ago.
“This is indeed a fitting tribute to your father, a man who supported many young athletes in the Finn Valley area and who fund raised for the same charity Concern”, stated the Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Dessie Larkin.
He added that “the amount of training involved in running a marathon is itself phenomenal and we can only imagine the dedication that that would entail particularly bearing in mind that you are living in different parts of Donegal and Scotland and I believe that there was one person supporting and inspiring you through all of this and that was your mother Kathleen. So to her and to all of you I say congratulations on this wonderful achievement”.
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For further information contact:
Anne Marie Conlon
Communications Officer
Donegal County Council
Tel: 074 91 72574
Mob: 087 9192275