There was great excitement on Monday at Buncrana shorefront as a big RTE bus arrived and was stationed at the playpark car park for the day. By 2.30pm, Ray D’Arcy had arrived and was broadcasting his radio show from Buncrana in preparation for his Run with Ray event which is being held in different locations throughout the country every day this week, starting off in sunny Buncrana! Please click on the arrows to go through the gallery Some 175 people participated in the run, wearing the blue ‘Run with Ray’ t-shirts. Ray also helped launch Sanctuary Runners Buncrana, and interviewed Olena from Ukraine, Bunmi from Nigeria who is a member of Sanctuary Runners Letterkenny, and Liz Kearney Le Masurier of Buncrana Parkrun. “We’re setting up Sanctuary Runners in Inishowen to support people seeking International Protection, asylum seekers and refugees,” Liz said. “It’s about solidarity, respect and friendship. The way it works is that these Sanctuary Runners groups often meet at parkrun weekly, and also joins other running events like 10k and half marathons or marathons throughout the year. “However, it’s open to everyone and you are welcome to walk, to volunteer or just to join us for a chat and a coffee – it’s really all about the coffee afterwards - as Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of Parkrun said. It’s about mental health, friendship, fun as well as a way to get fit and healthy. “We are delighted to provide a way to get to welcome and to get to know newcomers to our community, and to help reassure them that they have arrived in a welcoming community that empathises with them and who they have so much in common with. “I was walking past the new 'Sailor’s Rest' Emergency Accommodation in Buncrana for the last several weeks and I wanted to reach out to them, support them, and get to know them, and when my friend Caroline Kuyper suggested setting up a Sanctuary Runners in Buncrana it seemed like the ideal way to welcome them, to facilitate people in the area to support them
Gallery: ‘Run with Ray’ draws the crowds in Buncrana
