National Sports Campus Hosts Its First Grant Thornthon Corporate 5k Team Challenge

600 runners, making up 150 teams, took part in the Grant Thornton Corporate 5k Team Challenge last night in Fingal at the National Sports Campus, Blanchardstown. Aimed at encouraging social running amongst the business community, the event welcomed both seasoned runners as well as beginners. The event offered participants a view of the National Sports Campus and its excellent sports facilities and is the first of three 5k Challenges for 2015 with Cork and Dublin Docklands to follow.

This was a team event with four participants per team combining to determine the winner. There were prizes on offer for the top five teams in the Male, Female and Mixed categories, and all entrants received a souvenir technical t-shirt and a goody bag. The winners of the mixed category were St David's CBS, the female winners were Loreto College and the first team across the line and winners of the male category were ESB Team Electric. The first male across the line was Paul Fleming (Ornua - Irish Dairy Board) in 16.17, while event ambassador Catherina McKiernan took the female honours in a time of 17.01.

Grant Thornton had the largest number of team entries with 15 teams, while Spar/BWG Foods had 9 teams taking part, along with 5 teams from Toyota Ireland, and 3 teams from weather experts Met Eireann. On the sports side, the Irish Sports Council and the FAI both had 4 teams competing. Other entrants included Canada Life Europe, DING and GloHealth Insurance.
Paul McCann, Managing Partner, Grant Thornton said: "I am delighted to see the success of the Docklands run being replicated in the suburbs. As a team event, the Corporate Challenge is a great opportunity to build team spirit and promotes friendly competition amongst colleagues. It also encourages people to lean toward a healthier lifestyle, which is considered extremely important within Grant Thornton."

John Foley, CEO of Athletics Ireland, said: "As an association one of our core strategic objectives is to promote health and fitness in the population as a whole. It is great to see the Fingal business community participating in this 5k run".

David Conway, Chief Executive, National Sports Campus said: "We were delighted to welcome the Grant Thornton 5k run to the National Sports Campus and to support the wonderful work done by both the nominated charity ISPCC Childline and by Athletics Ireland."

Event Ambassador, Olympian and former London Marathon winner Catherina McKiernan commented on the race: "It was a fantastic sight to see so many people out running and enjoying themselves in the Home of Irish Sport."

The next Grant Thornton Corporate 5k Team Challenge for the diary is Tuesday 30th of June 2015 on The Mall, Cork City, with the flagship event taking place in the Dublin Docklands on Tuesday 1st of September 2015. To enter your team for either of these upcoming events now, go to www.grantthorntoncorporatechallenge.ie.