More than 80 runners joined the Melbourne leg of the Young Leaders Global 5k and were once again treated to glorious sunshine at Albert Park Lake. The annual run was a great opportunity for Ireland Fund supporters to come together to support the Fund’s charities both in Australia and at home.
Melbourne resident and global ambassador for the run Sonia O’Sullivan once again joined us to kick-off the race along with her daughter Sophie O’Sullivan, recently back from enjoying huge success at the European under-18 Athletics championships.
Irish-born Melbourne resident Sinead Diver, a world champion in marathon running came first across line in a blistering time of 16.08. Sinead joined the Global 5K in the morning after completing a 39km training run.
The fastest male was Reamonn Jansen, crossing at 17:41 and keeping it in the family with Aisling Jansen winning fastest female U16 with a time of 21:07. It was also great to see the next generation of Young Leaders, brother and sister, Aidan and Iona Fanning also once again producing sensational times in our U16 category.
Results
All of the run results can be viewed here.
The event in Melbourne which contributed to a global fundraising goal of $100k and raised funds for Australian Young Leaders chosen charities in 2018 – Suas and the GO Foundation – would not have been possible without the support of sponsors including PJ O’Brien’s, NAB Trade, EBM Insurance, Neodata and Taste Ireland as well as prize donations from Flowers Made Easy. As mentioned by Melbourne Committee Chair Sandra Booth during the prize giving, the post run barbeque featuring delicacies from home, thanks to sponsor Clonakilty and cooked by volunteers from PJ O’Brien’s, helps attract strong numbers every year. This year we also handed out goodie bags to all participants, with thanks to our national sponsor Lifestyle Solutions and Blue Dinosaur for donating the bags and inclusions. A special thank you also to Parks Victoria for allowing us to conduct our run in the glorious surrounds of Albert Park.
Thank you to all of our volunteers and committee members who assisted on the day and on behalf of our committee we wish to thank all who participated in this year’s run or supported those fundraising for the event. As for the perfect weather, which has become an annual feature of the event, we can only hope it continues in 2019!
