David Egan is a St Kieran's man living in Amsterdam - Let's join him on his adventure......

This is the third year of what has now become 1K by Father’s Day. The idea is to walk the equivalent of the distance to somewhere in Ireland for charity, starting on St. Bridget’s Day Feb 1st and completing it by Father’s Day in late June. It was inspired by Runninghome.ie which was started by an Irish woman, Aisling Demaison, in France, in 2021.

Not being much of a team player, I set up my own site to raise money for Mid-West Simon Community in Limerick. For that I walked 1112km, the equivalent distance to Carrickerry. In 2022 I walked for Blood Bike South in Cork as a friend of mine from school in heavily involved in that. This year it’s the turn of the St. Kieran’s GAA pitch fund and I’ll walk the equivalent of the distance from my home in Amsterdam to Ardagh, 1104km, starting on this Wednesday Feb 1st. I’ll contribute a euro per km and hopefully others will chip in as well

Why the focus on causes with links to West Limerick? Well, I grew up in Carrigkerry and went to St. Ita’s in Newcastlewest and then UL. I left Ireland in 1991 for graduate school in the US, where lived for 12 years, in New York and San Diego. I moved to Amsterdam in 2003 where I now run a software company.

The longer you live abroad the more you appreciate how special the place you came from is, and how big a part it played in making you who you are. As for St. Kieran’s my father Tommy Egan and his brothers played hurling for the club, that must have been back in the 30’s and 40’s. I remember my father going to the 1973 final. I was behind the Limerick goal in Semple the day John Fenton scored that incredible goal but after the many years of heartache I was lucky enough to be in the Hogan stand on that epic day in 2018.

My Uncle Moss O’Connor played football at fullback with Spartan intensity and my brother Mike played both hurling and football.W henever I’m at home I see what a hugely positive thing the GAA still is in rural Ireland. All the kids running around in the Summer with their Cul backpacks

Since I travel a lot for my work people can expect updates from some interesting locations. The walking doesn’t stop when I’m on the road. I’m really looking forward to getting started again next Wednesday. Walking 10k in the morning is a great start to the day and it’s great to see the sun rise earlier every day as we head into Spring. That said the forecast doen’t look great for this Wednesday, but sure, we’re not made of sugar. Onwards and upwards!!

Learn more about our ambious project here from our chairman David Woulfe

https://fb.watch/if_RpN95nu/