'Ireland Lights Up' - GAA community initiative to return in January 2022

By Clodagh Nagle
Published 24th Nov 2021, 17:39 BST
'Ireland Lights Up' - The GAA's community initiative to return in January 2022 (Image: GAA)placeholder image
'Ireland Lights Up' - The GAA's community initiative to return in January 2022 (Image: GAA)

The GAA's walking initiative 'Ireland Lights Up' will return in January 2022 in partnership with RTE's Operation Transformation.

'Ireland Lights Up (ILU)' encourages local GAA clubs across the 32 counties to turn on their floodlights and open their walking tracks to allow communities to come together to walk and talk in a safe environment during the long dark evenings of winter. placeholder image
'Ireland Lights Up (ILU)' encourages local GAA clubs across the 32 counties to turn on their floodlights and open their walking tracks to allow communities to come together to walk and talk in a safe environment during the long dark evenings of winter. 

700 GAA clubs signed up to participate last January however, ILU 2021 was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions

In replacement, the GAA Healthy Clubs project recruited almost 28,000 participants to walk in the Healthy Clubs 'Every Steps Counts Challenge'.

A combined step count of 7.5 billion was recorded over seven weeks. On average, each participant walked just over 200km

The GAA’s Community & Health department will deliver a club 'Steps Challenge' hosted on the Irish Life MyLife App in 2022.placeholder image
The GAA’s Community & Health department will deliver a club 'Steps Challenge' hosted on the Irish Life MyLife App in 2022.

The challenge will commence on 12 January, 2022, and will run for five weeks until February 16, 2022.

The challenge will see clubs and their members collectively walk 4,000 kilometres equating to the distance around Ireland.

Uachtarán CLG, Larry McCarthy said the GAA is 'delighted' to see Ireland Lights Up return in 2022 and it is one of their 'most popular' community initiatives.

“We are also delighted to deliver another Healthy Clubs Steps Challenge as part of ILU 2022. Participants can track their individual steps and health benefits, while also potentially winning some valuable gear for their clubs."

Related topics:GAAFamilyIreland
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