All About Cork: Ballincollig GAA ready to make Every Step Count

Ballincollig GAA, LGFA, and Camogie are again this year taking part in Ireland Lights Up and the Irish Life Healthy Clubs Every Step Counts Challenge. Weather permitting, Ireland Lights Up will commence tomorrow evening, Wednesday, January 8, at 7.30pm, but those interested in participating are advised to check Ballincollig GAA Club’s social media accounts in advance.

The weekly event is scheduled to run for six weeks, with the walk starting each Wednesday evening from pitch four at Ballincollig GAA and it will proceed along Old Fort Road and back along Main Street. Tea, coffee and fruit will be provided in the club bar afterwards, and sponsorship is being provided by SOS Binding and Quish’s SuperValu.

Running at the same time every week will be the Irish Life Every Step Counts Challenge, hosted on their MyLife app. To download the app, go to https://tinyurl.com/2r64vn9x sign up to the 2025 challenge. The challenge offers participants the chance to win a share of €30,000 in club funding.

Ger Hayes, who is part of Ballincollig GAA’s Healthy Club committee, explained that the initiative grew out of the old Operation Transformation challenge and it is open to all.

“It’s a great way to kickstart the new year and blow away a few cobwebs. It’s literally open to everybody, so we’re inviting everyone to come along and join in,” he told The Echo.

“Under-14s need to be accompanied by an adult, and it’s weather dependent each week, obviously.”

This is the third year the club has hosted this event, and Mr Hayes said he was hopeful that this year might see an increase on the numbers that attended the walk each week last year.

“It’s a nice opportunity to meet people and do something healthy for the new year, so we’re really hoping to get a good turnout.

“We’re very grateful to Quish’s SuperValu for sponsoring the fruit for everyone participating, and to SOS Binding for sponsoring the hi-vis jackets,” he said.

Frosty morning hike for Matthew on Mushera

Parkrun set to return

Ballincollig Parkrun is set to return for the new year, once the weather gets back to a more even keel.

The parkrun is a weekly, timed, five-kilometre run organised by locals.

Parkrun offers a great opportunity to get outside, make new friends, have fun, learn new skills and to be a valued part of the local community on a weekly basis.

The course is set up by volunteers, who also scan barcodes and ensure route safety.

Organisers say that if anyone wants to do a particular volunteer role, please let them know and they will try to accommodate.

If you would like to get involved in Ballincollig Parkrun, please email ballincollig@parkrun.com with your name and number and mention the role in which you would like to participate.

Winter Music Festival acts

The 15th Annual Ballincollig Winter Music Festival, from Tuesday, January 21 to Sunday, January 26, will feature double headline acts Clare Sands, and The Breath with Ríoghnach Connolly, and very special guest Stephanie Keane. They will play The White Horse at 8.30pm on Saturday, January 25.

A sixth generation fiddler, bilingual singer, force of nature, and all-round brilliant human being, Blarney native Clare Sands needs little introduction to Cork music fans.

The Breath is Manchester-based guitarist Stuart McCallum and singer/flautist Ríoghnach Connolly. They met on the city’s gig circuit in the late noughties and formed The Breath in 2016, a singer-songwriter duo to present their take on alt-folk.

Stephanie Keane hails from Limerick where she began her Irish Dancing journey at the age of four. She later relocated to east Clare where she fell in love with the Sean Nós style of dancing, developing a unique style of percussive dance.

For more, see whitehorse.ie.

Supervisor at Regatta Ireland

Regatta Ireland is seeking a supervisor to join its team in Regatta Great Outdoors in Ballincollig. The job entails a 30-hour contract. Anyone interested is asked to drop a cv into the store or apply online. The company says applicants must be fully flexible.

FET Centre courses

A timely reminder that Ballincollig FET Centre is starting some new computer courses for January, catering for beginners and improvers. The centre will also have a Level 3 Art and Design class and a new course, ‘Living Your Best Life’ (QQI L3 Personal Effectiveness) and an introductory course in Environmental Sustainability Awareness, and Eco Awareness.

The centre is also bringing back some of its popular six-week taster courses in Creative Writing, Driver Theory Test Preparation, Make Up Application, followed by a Nail Application course, and Arts & Crafts.

These courses will run alongside the centre’s longer introductory courses in Conversational Irish and Irish and Modern History. The centre will also offer courses in Smartphone Content Creation, Getting the Most out of Your Mobile, Houseplant Care, Horticulture and Sewing.

For further information, see fetchcourses.ie.

Ballincollig GAA lotto platform

Ballincollig GAA Club has announced that it is migrating its club lottery from its previous host to its club platform ClubZap.

Club chairperson Donal Hannigan told The Echo that club members had become familiar with ClubZap over the past 12 months, using it for chat groups and membership.

“Which means that transitioning our lotto on this platform makes sense as users can now purchase lotto tickets from the app directly,” he said.

“It’s also a much simpler format — it doesn’t require a user to register an account and log in - you simply add your email address to play.”

He added that the new lotto system mirrors the previous one in that it is played with 36 numbers, and all existing players with remaining credit have been moved across from the previous system with their same numbers plus their remaining credits.

“Once remaining credits expire, all players will receive an email to remind them to renew their subscription to new platform on Clubzap,” he said.

Manual entries from local shops, pubs and club remain the same and all new players simply play on the ClubZap app. For further information, see ballincolliggaa.clubzap.com.

The numbers drawn in the weekly lottery, which was held on Thursday, December 19, were 7, 16, 32, and 33. With the club’s lottery jackpot at €20,000, the draw is now at the highest amount it can reach and must be won.

There was no winner drawn in the final draw of 2024, and consolation prizes went to: Tim Kelleher, who won €100, Yvonne Hurley, who won €50, and Paul McNamara, who won €50.

The second jackpot continues to increase by €200 weekly and currently stands at €7,600.

The lottery is currently taking a two-week break, with the next draw scheduled to place later this week, on Thursday evening, January 9. For details on how to enter the club’s weekly draw, see the club’s social media pages.

Have Ballincollig news to share? Contact donal.okeeffe@theecho.ie