Cork-founded Sanctuary Runners 'continues to gather pace' with new partnership

The Cork-founded Sanctuary Runners have signed a new partnership with the Olympic Refuge Foundation to develop a toolkit to bring its solidarity-through-sport movement to cities across the globe.

The group, which uses running to build bridges in the community between people of different backgrounds and nationalities, signed the agreement with the group founded by the International Olympic Committee to support displaced young people through sport, during the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar.

The partnership will also see the first Sanctuary Runners group developed on the continent of Africa, in Dakar, Senegal.

The Sanctuary Runners was set up in Cork in 2018, and has grown to 44 groups across Ireland.

The partnership sees it awarded funding to develop a new toolkit, called ‘Sanctuary Runners-in-a-box’, which it hopes will enable cities globally to establish their own Sanctuary Runner groups.

Graham Clifford, founder of the group and its head of international development, said: “This is a huge moment for our organisation and one which will allow us to adapt all we’ve learned and experienced in Ireland and bring it to cities across the globe.

“To have the support of the Olympic Refuge Foundation is just incredible and to see those rings on our running shirts will show how far our movement has come over the last decade.”

“Our mission of using running and walking to break down barriers and bring people together continues to gather pace.”

The partnership was announced on Friday at a special Global Solidarity Run event held in central Dakar, attended by members of the Youth Olympic Refugee team participating in the games.

The Youth Olympic Games in Dakar are the first ever Olympic games in Africa.

Jeroen Carrin, head of the Olympic Refuge Foundation said: “We are delighted to partner with the Sanctuary Runners for this exciting pilot project in Dakar.”

Mr Carrin said the replicable model will allow the foundation to "take learnings from Senegal and make it accessible to other cities in the world".

“Sanctuary Runners-in-a-box gives us a platform to build on and, we hope, cities globally will follow Dakar’s lead," he added. 

The Global Solidarity Run initiative, supported by Irish Aid, the European Commission and the Ireland Funds, aims to enable people to run, walk or wheel in solidarity with people across the world who are displaced from their homes or living in extreme poverty.

Over the last three years people have participated in the display of solidarity in almost 100 countries globally.