The RCNI Marathon Challenge
Donation protected
Dear Gentlemen and Fair Maidens,
If I could have your attention for only two or so minutes. As some of you may know, I’ve taken a step back from academia this year in order to prepare for the chaos that will soon engulf my life as I embark upon a Master’s Degree and then a PhD. I’ve decided that I should use this new-found free time to set myself some sort of objective, some kind of challenge. I settled upon a two-pronged plan: never before have I ran a marathon, though I’d like to, and never before have I levered a personal goal in service of a greater public good, though I’d like to, and so in bringing together both of these pursuits my aim for the coming months will be to complete as many marathons as possible, in as many different places as possible, while raising as many funds for a charitable organisation as possible.
I’ve set the initial target at five marathons, with this number likely to increase throughout the year as the challenge goes on (Edit: I will now be running ten!) At the moment, I’m signed up to race in Paris, Bordeaux, Stockholm, Dublin and Galway, but I also have my eyes on other events in Spain and Denmark. (Edit: I've since added Dingle, Asturias and Hallstahammar to the list. Denmark fell through). I’ve set my initial target, time-wise, at about three-and-a-half hours, too, in the hopes that I’ll be able to improve upon this as I continue to rack up the miles and experience.
I thought long and rather hard about which charity to raise money for. In the end, it was the harrowing story of a friend that decided me. I’ll be running in support of the RCNI, or Rape Crisis Network Ireland, which is the umbrella organisation responsible for the co-ordination and development of the fifteen or so Rape Crisis Centres scattered about the country. Apart from this harmonising function, the Network also toils on three more general fronts: (a) fostering awareness and providing education in relation to sexual assault, as well as to all of the causes and effects that are bound up with it, in order to prevent it from happening in the first place; (b) in the event that sexual assault does take place, promoting standards of best practice among the centres in order to ensure that victims are well cared for; (c) again, in the event that sexual assault does take place, helping those affected to pursue justice in the Irish courts of law.
In raising funds in support of the Network, as opposed to any one Centre in particular, it is my hope that the money will be fairly distributed to those locations which need it most. Check out their website, too, if such a thing takes your interest; there is surely much more useful information to be found there than I have been able to give here.
As to my reasons for choosing this charitable organisation, they are quite uncomplicated. I think it loathsome that, in the light of the apparently ever-present threat of sexual assault, about one half of the earth’s population (no, not only women… but mostly women - and even if not only women… still, mostly women, overwhelmingly and shamefully mostly women) have little choice but to see their quality of life diminished and restraints imposed upon their freedom. I think it loathsome that friends of mine frequently reveal to me the devices which they feel they must employ in order to avoid any 'unwanted attention': wearing headphones and sunglasses in public; always having a book at hand to bury their eyes in, should the need arise; wearing scarves; smiling, but not too much; being clever about where they choose to sit on public transport; planning routes home in advance; gripping their back-door key between fingers as they walk down dimly-lit streets, forever ready to turn it into a shank, and so on. I think loathsome the mental and bodily stress that such necessary precautions and states of constant alertness bring about. I think it loathsome that some people are not free to wear the clothes they wish or to take taxis home alone after a night out or to go for long walks alone after the sun has set. I think it loathsome, in short, that they cannot live.
Here is the GoFundMe page that I’ve set up for the purposes of collecting donations, which is super easy to use and barely takes a second. I know it’s a well-hashed cliché at this point, but anything at all really does help - even one measly euro is one euro more than before, and if ten measly individuals were to donate one measly euro each, that would be enough money to pay an expert therapist for an hour-long consultation with a victim in need. I’ll also have a physical sponsorship card about my person at most times in the coming months, so you had all best believe that if I catch you in the street or in the pub or in the supermarket, I will hassle you.
It will be the thought, not only of all of the potential victims for whom I might be working to make life that little bit less awful, but also of all of you who will have donated and whom I wouldn’t want to let down, which will force me to continue putting one foot in front of the other when I no longer think I can.
I’ll be posting, on my Facebook wall, on occasion, to keep those interested informed of the worthy initiatives into which their money is being invested and to keep you all up to date with regard to the marathons themselves.
Until such a time, you will find me flogging myself along the backroads of Drumcar.
Edit: I am absolutely amazed that, between online and in-person donations, we have very nearly reached our goal of one-thousand euros. We have not even made it half-way through the challenge yet. Incredible! Let us therefore set a new upper limit: how about €1200..?
Peace,
Conor.
Link to the RCNI Website: https://www.rcni.ie/
If I could have your attention for only two or so minutes. As some of you may know, I’ve taken a step back from academia this year in order to prepare for the chaos that will soon engulf my life as I embark upon a Master’s Degree and then a PhD. I’ve decided that I should use this new-found free time to set myself some sort of objective, some kind of challenge. I settled upon a two-pronged plan: never before have I ran a marathon, though I’d like to, and never before have I levered a personal goal in service of a greater public good, though I’d like to, and so in bringing together both of these pursuits my aim for the coming months will be to complete as many marathons as possible, in as many different places as possible, while raising as many funds for a charitable organisation as possible.
I’ve set the initial target at five marathons, with this number likely to increase throughout the year as the challenge goes on (Edit: I will now be running ten!) At the moment, I’m signed up to race in Paris, Bordeaux, Stockholm, Dublin and Galway, but I also have my eyes on other events in Spain and Denmark. (Edit: I've since added Dingle, Asturias and Hallstahammar to the list. Denmark fell through). I’ve set my initial target, time-wise, at about three-and-a-half hours, too, in the hopes that I’ll be able to improve upon this as I continue to rack up the miles and experience.
I thought long and rather hard about which charity to raise money for. In the end, it was the harrowing story of a friend that decided me. I’ll be running in support of the RCNI, or Rape Crisis Network Ireland, which is the umbrella organisation responsible for the co-ordination and development of the fifteen or so Rape Crisis Centres scattered about the country. Apart from this harmonising function, the Network also toils on three more general fronts: (a) fostering awareness and providing education in relation to sexual assault, as well as to all of the causes and effects that are bound up with it, in order to prevent it from happening in the first place; (b) in the event that sexual assault does take place, promoting standards of best practice among the centres in order to ensure that victims are well cared for; (c) again, in the event that sexual assault does take place, helping those affected to pursue justice in the Irish courts of law.
In raising funds in support of the Network, as opposed to any one Centre in particular, it is my hope that the money will be fairly distributed to those locations which need it most. Check out their website, too, if such a thing takes your interest; there is surely much more useful information to be found there than I have been able to give here.
As to my reasons for choosing this charitable organisation, they are quite uncomplicated. I think it loathsome that, in the light of the apparently ever-present threat of sexual assault, about one half of the earth’s population (no, not only women… but mostly women - and even if not only women… still, mostly women, overwhelmingly and shamefully mostly women) have little choice but to see their quality of life diminished and restraints imposed upon their freedom. I think it loathsome that friends of mine frequently reveal to me the devices which they feel they must employ in order to avoid any 'unwanted attention': wearing headphones and sunglasses in public; always having a book at hand to bury their eyes in, should the need arise; wearing scarves; smiling, but not too much; being clever about where they choose to sit on public transport; planning routes home in advance; gripping their back-door key between fingers as they walk down dimly-lit streets, forever ready to turn it into a shank, and so on. I think loathsome the mental and bodily stress that such necessary precautions and states of constant alertness bring about. I think it loathsome that some people are not free to wear the clothes they wish or to take taxis home alone after a night out or to go for long walks alone after the sun has set. I think it loathsome, in short, that they cannot live.
Here is the GoFundMe page that I’ve set up for the purposes of collecting donations, which is super easy to use and barely takes a second. I know it’s a well-hashed cliché at this point, but anything at all really does help - even one measly euro is one euro more than before, and if ten measly individuals were to donate one measly euro each, that would be enough money to pay an expert therapist for an hour-long consultation with a victim in need. I’ll also have a physical sponsorship card about my person at most times in the coming months, so you had all best believe that if I catch you in the street or in the pub or in the supermarket, I will hassle you.
It will be the thought, not only of all of the potential victims for whom I might be working to make life that little bit less awful, but also of all of you who will have donated and whom I wouldn’t want to let down, which will force me to continue putting one foot in front of the other when I no longer think I can.
I’ll be posting, on my Facebook wall, on occasion, to keep those interested informed of the worthy initiatives into which their money is being invested and to keep you all up to date with regard to the marathons themselves.
Until such a time, you will find me flogging myself along the backroads of Drumcar.
Edit: I am absolutely amazed that, between online and in-person donations, we have very nearly reached our goal of one-thousand euros. We have not even made it half-way through the challenge yet. Incredible! Let us therefore set a new upper limit: how about €1200..?
Peace,
Conor.
Link to the RCNI Website: https://www.rcni.ie/
Organizer
Conor Brendan Dunne
Organizer
