A DAY after the Barrington’s Hospital Great Limerick Run trundles through the city, a race of a different kind will take make its way around the streets of Limerick.
The Limerick City Challenge will be held on Monday May 5 and there will be more to this race than fitness and athleticism. It promises to test all five senses and will pose physical, intellectual, musical, artistic and sensory challenges.
Organiser Paddie Kelly said: “I used to live in New Zealand and I watched a television programme called ‘The Amazing Race’ where teams of two would race around the world and do challenges. I thought it was a great idea so I took the concept and shrunk it down to apply it to Limerick.”
In the Limerick City Challenge, teams of two, three or four people will perform a variety of challenges along a route which begins at the Curragower Bar and takes in King John’s Castle, St Mary’s Cathedral, Presentation climbing wall, the People’s Park, Bourke’s Pub and Bedford Row before finishing at Clohessy’s Bar.
Coonagh resident Paddie explained: “I had to simplify it from the original idea so it’s nothing too difficult. There can be teams of two to four people and one person at a time does a challenge, so the other team members get a break in between. You don’t need to be mega fit to take part in the Limerick City Challenge and the main thing is just to have fun.”
Riverfest, the May Bank Holiday festival, is sponsoring the race and Paddie is hopeful that the influx of visitors for the long weekend will lead to high participation in the event.
She promised that “this is different from the Great Limerick Run and I know that people who wouldn’t think of doing that can take part in the challenge.”
The City Challenge is a non-profit charity event in aid of Bóthar and all the businesses involved have donated their premises free of charge. Paddie chose Bóthar as the beneficiary for the event as her father has been involved with the Limerick charity since it began in 1989.
