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22 Oct 2025

Pictures: Holy Family National School stage a fantastic 5K fun run and walk

On Friday June 22nd, on a beautiful sunny evening in Templetuohy, the biggest attendance yet of 247 people of all ages turned out and registered for the fourth annual Holy Family National School 5k Fun Run and Walk, in memory of their past pupil, Chloe Gray.
Before the start of the race, Chloe’s family, relatives and friends let off purple balloons to remember Chloe’s 18th birthday that week.
Carmel Deegan, Principal, spoke about how much the school appreciated all the support. Each year the school have a special guest to officially start the race and this year the school were delighted to have Aisling Maher, a past pupil, who won an amazing three gold medals in the National Special Olympics in Dublin, the weekend before.
In the race itself the first athlete home was Stephen Flanagan, Moyne A.C. in a time of 16.56. A fellow Moyne A.C. and local man, Liam Kelly came second in 17.08 and Templemore A.C. athlete Peter Madden was next in 17.50. First juvenile home for the third year in a row was Nathan Bowe, Moyne, in a time of 18.52. The first three ladies to cross the line were; last year’s winner, Madeline Loughnane, Thurles Crokes, who set a new women’s course record in 18.21, Sharon Cleere, second place in 18.56 and Louise Mahoney, Ballyroan, third in 20.02. This year, we had a new initiative of a €100 Club donation to the Club with the first 5 members home and we were delighted to present this to members of Moyne A.C.; Stephen Flanagan, Liam Kelly, Nathan Bowe, Patrick Bowe and Martin Kiely who were the first five members home. Well done and thank you to all who took part.
After the event the crowd retired to the school grounds where sandwiches and confectionery were enjoyed by all. Pamela Russell presented the top three ladies and men, and juvenile winner with beautiful trophies in memory of her daughter, Chloe. There were lots of fun spot prizes and a lovely evening was spent outside the school after the race, chatting and enjoying the refreshments.
A presentation was made to staff member Leona Doyle by the Board of Management in gratitude for all her dedication to the school for the past five years. Leona will be returning to her base school in Loughmore in September. We are grateful to have had such a wonderful teacher and friend in Leona. We wish her well in the future.
There was then a huge surprise when Jimmy Butler, Templetuohy Farm Machinery, presented a new John Deere lawnmower to the school and also to Templetuohy Tidy Villages. We are so grateful for this huge act of generosity. Holy Family N.S. School hurling team won The Eddie Connolly Memorial Division 2 Tournament last Thursday and our new lawnmower will help to ensure that the children have a manicured playing pitch to practice on, thanks to Paddy Kelly driving our new John Deere lawnmower!
This year the school will put the funds raised from the Fun Run towards the School Music programme and also the Aistear Play programme. We were having a very lucky week at Holy Family N.S when Tom Burnell heard Carmel Deegan promoting the fun run on Tipp FM, he then arrived to the school and donated two beautiful banjos, a guitar and amplification to our School. We were absolutely delighted to accept them and hope that Tom will come back to the school to listen to our music group perform.
The Staff and Board of Management of Holy Family N.S. wish to say a huge thank you to those who made donations, monetary or otherwise; to those who donated all the post race refreshments; to the parents, grandparents and friends who took care of putting up the marquee and organising the catering, putting up signs and transporting tables and chairs; to all those who helped with registration, timing, finish line, compiling results etc; and to those who helped with parking, stewarding and also photography. Thanks to the families and children of Holy Family National School. Thanks also to the First Aiders and the marquee owners; to those on motorbikes, cyclists and the Gardaí for marshalling the route; the people who manned water stations, the staff and Parent’s Council and to anyone that helped in any way on the day of the event or in the preparation, your help was very much appreciated. A special mention to Spiderman, who made a guest appearance again this year, even with the heat and his presence is much enjoyed and appreciated every year! Thanks to Billy Loughnane and Martin Gavin for capturing the evenings events.
The event was a great success; remembering Chloe and also raising much needed funds for Holy Family National School. The School and Community Spirit in Holy Family N.S. and in Templetuohy is better than ever and we appreciate all the support. Thank you to all.

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