Dundalk sprinter Israel Olatunde launches SPAR College Fund

Dundalk sprinter and the fastest Irish man in history Israel Olatunde and SPAR have launched a competition for two third level students in Ireland to win €5,000 each in cash to support them this academic year. 

This competition will see an additional €10,000 invested in SPAR’s recent Community Fund initiatives, which have already invested €20,000 into community-based projects across Ireland in the last 12 months.

Dundalk's Israel, who became Ireland’s fastest ever man when he ran 10.17 seconds in the 100m final of the SPAR European Athletics Championship 100m final in August, has partnered up with Cian Mooney, a familiar face on TikTok with over seven million likes and 92,000 followers, to pay his local SPAR beside University College Dublin a flying 10.17 second visit. 

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To be in with a chance of winning the cash prize, college students across Ireland simply have to record a Tik Tok video in their local SPAR in under 10.17 seconds and share it on Cian Mooney’s TikTok channel.

In addition to supporting communities across Ireland through committing over €30,000 via SPAR Community Fund initiatives, SPAR is a long-standing supporter of athletics in Ireland and internationally through longstanding sponsorships of Athletics Ireland and European Athletics.

SPAR also supports grassroots football in Ireland through sponsorship of the SPAR FAI Primary Schools 5’s competition. 

Speaking about the SPAR College Fund, Israel Olatunde said: “Everybody knows the challenges that are being faced by third level college students across Ireland with rising costs and accommodation shortages.

"€5,000 is a huge amount of money to anyone and a real game changer for any student facing into the academic year.

"I’m delighted to partner with SPAR on this initiative and to have a bit of craic with Cian to get the competition out of the blocks.”

Colin Donnelly, SPAR Sales Director, commented on the announcement: “SPAR is proud to partner with Israel on this initiative. College students are hugely important to SPAR, and this is a small way of us recognising their struggles and giving something back to them.

"As an organisation with a long heritage of supporting athletics we’ve had our eye on Israel for some time now. We couldn’t be happier to collaborate with him on this project and have a bit of fun as we break new ground for our brand into TikTok.” 

To find out more about the SPAR College Fun visit www.spar.ie and SPAR’s social media channels.