Relay For Life Donegal raises €50,000 from virtual event

Relay for Life Donegal has raised more than €50,000 with the figure expected to increase in the coming days.

A virtual event over Saturday and Sunday replaced the annual 24-hour relay at Letterkenny Institute of Technology which raises funds for cancer research and services.

Daniel O'Donnell was among a host of music stars who took part in the event. Singers including Nathan Carter, Robert Mizzell, Derek Ryan, Philomena Begley, Cliona Hagan, Michael English, Mick Flavin, David James, Margo, Declan Nerney,  Seamus McGee and Jacqui Sharkey performed on Saturday night. 

Twenty-nine teams around the county raised funds by undertaking walks in their locality. The teams were given the challenge of collectively walking the  7,113 kilometres between Letterkenny and Tacoma in the state of Washington where Relay For Life was founded in 1985.

Chair of Relay for Life Donegal Robert O'Connor said the teams walked more than 80,000kms, the equivalent of walking twice around the world.

One group of participants took part in a 24-hour socially-distanced walk in groups of two at Rosses Athletic Club and a group of cyclists in the Rosses took part in a 12-hour overnight cycle.

The highlight of the weekend’s event was  Daniel O'Donnell performing the anthem for the event, I’ll See This Journey Through, along with co-writer Marc Roberts and the Survivors Choir, Mr O’Connor said.

“That was very emotional and very uplifting for all of the people to see that,” he said. “It’s really about the survivors and if it were not for the survivors it wouldn’t happen.”

Mr O’Connor said the organisers had aimed to raise €25,000.

“We are over the moon at that,” he said.

“It's amazing the ingenuity that people came up with at the last minute. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be finalising the fundraising total.”