A big thank you

It's just over 2 weeks since the race and I'm pretty much recovered. We haven't got the bulk of the photos yet but thanks to John Sheridan we can show you two from near the end.

Seeing as I'm thanking John for the pics I might as well take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped the campaign.

First off Comit Marketing deserve a particularly heavy dose of praise. The guys in there helped us secure a lot of the prizes for the draw and showed interest throughout the campaign. Likewise Heneghan PR were a great help in securing prizes for the draw and supporting the cause and we are very grateful to them.

Damovo, Strencom, Cable & Wireless, Motorola, the ESB (in particular Gerry McGough), Tipperary GAA and Dublin GAA (in particular John Costello) were all a great help in either donating or securing prizes for the draw and we are delighted they were able to support us. Thanks also to Paddy Power (in particular Michelle Daly) for providing odds on the race.

Running this campaign took a lot more than just one person. John Craddock made an immense contribution. On top of doing the Dublin marathon, John was also my training partner and the man that drove me to the Dublin 10 mile and half marathon races.

Ciaran Ruane, Fergal Casey and Cóilín Duffy all gave a great deal of support in help in our promotional effort. The trio, along with John, helped make so many of our videos possible. In that same respect, a big thanks to Lee Daly, Greg Bowler, Cian Ginty, Mary Dobbs, Gareth Murphy and Niall McClave for appearing in our videos.

Greg, John Sheridan, Kate Fitzgerald, and the whole DCU debating posse deserve a big heap of praise for their backing throughout the campaign. The DCU Saints also gave tremendous support all season long and that was a big help.

On the UCD side Sir Keith Thompson, who did the Great North Run, Eve Rowan, who is always there to support me, and a shedload of other people deserve a whole heap of praise. Nearish to UCD, Eoin Kennedy in Slattery Communications offered great encouragement over the last few months.

Martin Cahill, Grainne Kennedy, and all the guys in the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland helped a great deal both pre and post race.

Last but not least I want to thank everyone who has supported this cause in any way. Be you well wishers, people that bought tickets for the draw, or anyone else that donated, your help is thoroughly appreciated.

Oh and it's not over...you can still donate through our MyCharity.ie page. We'll keep taking donations for about another month before formally announcing our total either in late December or early 2009.

The Sunday Column - Draw results announced

The 2008 STIG for CF Ireland Prize Draw was held on Sunday and no expense was spared...actually scratch that, no expense was incurred in our staging of the event. Check the video below to find out who won.



Congratulations to all the winners. We have a major announcement coming midweek so keep an eye out for another video in the next few days.

If you missed out on the prize draw and still want to donate you can do at our MyCharity page.

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.

The Sunday Column - We have a winner

Congratulations to Bob Corr who has won tickets to the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals this Saturday in Croke Park. My apologies to Bob for mispronouncing his surname in the video, I read his name as Carr on the list of tickets sold.

If you didn't win fear not for everyone who participated in this draw will be entered into the main draw for the big prizes next month.

Tickets are still available by contacting me at emmetryan@gmail.com

Remember all the money raised goes towards the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland as part of our 2008 which climaxes this November when I run the New York City Marathon.

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

Getting in shape and giving away prizes

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.

Win vouchers for Brown Thomas and Nue Blue Eriu

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

No sleep till Brooklyn...

...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.