Emmet Ryan is taking part in the 2008 New York City Marathon to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. This blog will chart Emmet's progress along the way as well as featuring guest columns on a wide range of topics from some of the most creative and interesting bloggers on the net. We'll be posting a regular column every Sunday evening as well as adding news and other updates to this blog frequently so subscribe now to ensure you get the most up to date info.
05 September 2008
MyCharity.ie page now up and running
We may be a day later than planned in announcing this but we are delighted to formally reveal the first of our two big bits of news this month.
STIG for CF Ireland's official MyCharity.ie page is now up and running. This is an easy way for you to donate to the cause online and for you to see how we are progressing towards our target amount.
This is the first year we've set up a web donation page but better late than never. The page can be found here and all support is greatly appreciated.
Two big announcements on the way & details of the draw...help us find a venue
The STIG for CF Ireland 2008 campaign will be making two big announcements in the next couple of weeks, the first of which is coming on Thursday. All will be revealed soon but as a hint the first one will be internet related. Yeah that's all I'm giving away for now.
In news that we can announce now, sales for the STIG for CF Ireland prize draw have now formally ceased. Thanks to everyone that bought tickets.
We plan on holding the draw on either Wednesday the 17th or Thursday the 18th of this month. We're currently looking for a venue in or near Dublin city centre, preferably a pub where we can get an area put aside. If anyone has any recommendations on somewhere that's good for that sort of thing please leave a comment.
Last chance to win Premium tickets to the All Ireland Quarter Finals
The early entry deadline for the STIG for CF Ireland Prize Draw is this Saturday night. Anyone who hasn't reserved a ticket before this date will miss out on a chance to win 2 Premium tickets to an All Ireland Football Quarter Finals double header in Croke Park on Saturday the 9th of August.
The winner will be announced through a video which we will post in the next edition of The Sunday Column. This means it will likely go up on Monday the 4th seeing as my internet connectivity as of late hasn't been smashing.
We will still be selling tickets after this Saturday and everyone who buys a ticket will get a shot at the big prizes which are listed here.
Tickets cost €25 and can be bought by emailing emmetryan@gmail.com
As the video shows I've a bit of catching up to do if I want to be in shape come November 2nd.
A much closer date to keep in your diaries is the 2nd of August. That's the day we announce who has won 2 tickets to the All Ireland Football Quarter Finals. The tickets are for the Premium section of the ground and are for a double-header on the 9th of August.
The big match tickets are part of the STIG for CF Ireland Prize Draw. Only 200 tickets are being sold in all at €25 each.
On top of the GAA tickets we're giving away a €250 voucher for Brown Thomas, a €200 voucher for Nue Blue Eriu, a signed Dublin Gaelic Football jersey, a signed Tipperary hurling jersey and a Motorola MOTOKRZR K1 red handset.
The main draw will take place in September but any tickets bought before the 2nd of August will also be entered into the draw for the Premium ticekts, giving you a chance to win on the double.
All the money raised will go towards our 2008 STIG for CF Ireland campaign.
We've added two more prizes to the STIG for CF Ireland Prize Draw. Ladies, you're going to like these. Strencom have donated a €250 voucher for Brown Thomas while Damovo have provided us with a €200 voucher for Nue Blue Eriu.
These are on top of the other prizes we've already told you about. We're also giving away: A Dublin jersey signed by the entire Senior Football Championship panel A Tipperary jersey signed by the entire Senior Hurling Championship panel 2 Premium tickets to an All Ireland Football Quarter Finals Double Header (courtesy of Cable & Wireless) A MOTOKRZR K1 red mobile handset (courtesy of Motorola)
Just to remind you we've now add these to the draw: €250 voucher for Brown Thomas (courtesy of Strencom) €200 voucher for Nue Blue Eriu (courtesy of Damovo)
We're only selling 200 tickets, at a cost of €25 each, giving entrants great odds of winning one of these prizes.
Buy now To purchase tickets for the draw please email emmetryan@gmail.com
...well actually not until Manhattan, that's where the finish line is.
As revealed in the video, I'll be heading to New York this year as part of team CF Ireland to represent STIG and hopefully raise a shed load of money along the way. The New York City Marathon, 37,000 punters taking to the streets and pounding out 26 miles and 385 yards.
This is the big one folks, one of the World Marathon Majors and the mugs have decided to let us take part. Better make the most of it then. STIG for CF Ireland has raised the guts of €3,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland over the past two years but in 2008 we plan on hammering that figure.
On top of the usual sort of fund raising activities we do, such as looking for donations (see the side bar to your right) we will be holding a prize draw which features prizes donated from lovely firms such as Cable & Wireless, Damovo, Motorola and Strencom. Only 200 tickets will be made available so check it out quickly to see if you fancy a chance at winning some of the fan-dabi-dozy prizes on offer while also helping to raise money for the cause.
This blog will be updated regularly with a new column each Sunday as well as with other posts on a frequent basis. The posts will include updates on the campaign, interesting things relating to the race, the cause we're doing this for, STIG, and stuff I find that's just plain interesting.
There will also be occasional guest posts from other bloggers on a variety of interesting topics. Plus at least once a month we'll have a video update, like the one above.
STIG for CF Ireland is a team effort and John Craddock, who ran/walked (a mixture of both really) in the first two campaigns will be acting as training partner and coach for this year's event.
This post marks the formal launch of the 2008 campaign so I, and the rest of the STIG team, look forward to keeping you updated on our efforts over the next few months.
First off welcome to any readers of Damien's blog who stumbled upon STIG for CF Ireland through his fluffy links. It's nearly time for us to kick off the 2008 campaign. The coming weeks will see the formal launch take place with details of our fund-raising initiatives for this year.
In 2008 we're really taking things up a level and there's going to be more ways for you to interact with STIG for CF Ireland. All we can confirm for now is that we will not be participating in the Dublin City Marathon as in previous years. STIG for CF Ireland is going Big Time.
Our new campaign will include videos that we hope you will find to be much more entertaining than last year's offerings or indeed the Peter Gabriel one that I just slotted in there.
Please pop back in this June when details of our events for 2008 will be revealed.
Well it's finally over. The journey that began with a 10 miler back in August, leading onto a half marathon in September, before the Dublin City Marathon itself in October, has ended with €1,506.93 raised for the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland.
Thanks to your generosity we've beaten last year's total and we have now raised €2,797.93 in the first two years of STIG for CF Ireland. But what have we learned?
1. That slow people racing can make for a hilarious and potentially highly offensive spectator sport.
2. That a belts with big buckles can cause serious foot injuries.
3. That there is nothing as inspirational as the Rocky theme.
4. That energy drinks are basically a big pile of sugar.
5. And that Mr T made the right prediction http://stigforcfi.stigonline.com/2007/10/6-days-to-go.html
There's a few people that have to be thanked. First off a big cheers to our web guru John Healy for helping put all of this together. Secondly, thanks to Ciaran Ruane, Rachel Curran, and Carmel Ryan for providing support on the course on the day, which was much appreciated.
Last but not least we'd like to thank everyone that helped in any way with the campaign, be it through a donation, selecting a song for the iPod or just wishing us luck. It was a great boost and hopefully we can build on it for 2008. Needless to say we already have a few plans up our sleeve and they'll be revealed in good time.
Finally, I left a cheque in with CF Ireland today and they were delighted to receive the donation for all of you so give yourselves a big pat on the back. See you next year.
Well it's been a long road but finally we've got the cash together. We'll announce the total tomorrow so stay tuned.
Thanks to everyone who has supported this campaign over the past few months, your help has been tremendous. The plans for STIG for CF Ireland 2008 are already underway and like this year we intend to offer you guys more content and a bit more creativity in the campaign itself when we hit the road again.
We'll be dropping the funds into CF Ireland's offices tomorrow and will reveal the final amount raised shortly afterwards.
Jeff 'The Dude' Dowd and Emmet at Lebowski Fest 2007 in LA
Many of you will soon receive my latest travel email covering my recent holiday in LA, from which I returned today. The combination of that trip plus a working gig out in Las Vegas from Sunday through Thursday is not the ideal way to build up for a marathon, especially as I'll line up for the race the Monday after I return from Vegas.
Now don't get me wrong I look forward to this forthcoming trip and thoroughly enjoyed my time in LA but it would be remiss of me to not try and at least slightly counterbalance the clear impact these trips will have on my preparations.
The heat in LA and the prospect of good weather in Vegas will hopefully do some good. With the rather frightening prospect of a warm weather marathon on the cards, a nightmare scenario for a big guy like me, but potentially erratic weather between now and race day in Ireland I can at least guarantee that it'll be nothing I haven't been used to in the weeks building up to the race as I'll have been spending time in a warmer climate. I'll explain the kind of conditions that the STIG team will be praying on raceday later this week.
Don't miss: STIG for CF Ireland will be making a huge announcement on this very blog tomorrow. Stay tuned.
If you would like to make a donation to STIG for CF Ireland please contact us by sending an email to
emmetryan@gmail.com, or check out our mycharity.ie page.
About STIG for CF Ireland
STIG for CF Ireland is back for 2008. This year’s campaign will see Emmet Ryan run the New York City Marathon in aid of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland.
