Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh Women’s 5000m Memorial Race:
30th May 2015 – Nelson Mandela Stadium
Nelson Mandela Stadium in Kampala will be a bee hive of activities come Saturday, 30th May 2015. First, it will be the day that the 5th Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) trials shall be taking place and then, the Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh Women’s 5000m Memorial Race.
“We expect a mammoth crowd on the day. This race will be at 11.55am (registration begins at 9am and the first event is scheduled for 10am)” Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, husband to the deceased Margaret is sponsoring the run and shall be attending the trials in person.
Margaret was a resilient cross-country runner and, more recently, competed in field events for Ireland at Masters level.
She won a silver medal for Ireland in athletics at the European Masters’ Games, Sweden, as well as Northern Ireland and New Zealand athletics titles, plus five All Ireland medals.
The best seven runners shall smile home with varying proportions of prize money and medals will be given to the first three.
The athletics federation has staked a Ug Shs 100,000 bonus if the national record is broken. If deemed a success the race will become a permanent feature of the Ugandan Track and Field Calendar.
About Dr. MARGARET Ó hÓGARTAIGH:
Margaret was an outstanding Irish academic and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.
In 2000, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and spent the following year in Boston at Boston College.
This was the beginning of Margaret’s long connection with academia in the United States and she was to return frequently to teach in Boston College and in Harvard.
She was also an avid athletics fan. As part of her historical work, she published several papers on athletics, many of which are collected and published in her collection of essays Quiet revolutionaries: Irish women in education, medicine and sport, 1861-1964, one of the six books which she authored/edited.
Margaret was a generous supporter of Ugandan athletics, and provided, over many years, a huge number of athletics magazines and books for distribution to Ugandan athletes. Regretfully, Margaret passed away just before Christmas 2014 at the age of 47, due to cancer.
PRIZES
1st Ug Sh 400k plus engraved trophy and medal;
2nd Ug Sh 200k (Engraved medal)
3rd Ug Sh 100k (Engraved medal)
4th – 6th Ug Sh 20k each
7th – 10th Ug Sh 10k each.