by Alan Jacques
YOUNG people from Southill and Garryowen proved they had the skills required to win the Fittest Youth Club Challenge this week.
The local youngsters overcame the challenges of their peers from Limerick Youth Service and the Westend Youth Centre to win the inaugural competition at Ballyhass Lakes in County Cork.
Faced with challenges as varied as kayaking, archery and an assault course, the young people from the Southill Hub and Team Garryowen proved victorious to bring gold medals home to their respective communities.
A partnership between Limerick Youth Service and Garryowen Community Development Project, Team Garryowen were crowned winners in the 10 to 12 years category, with Southill Hub taking the 13 to 15 years and over 16 years categories.
“We had 88 young people from different communities get together, have fun and enjoy a little healthy competition,” said Suzi Cronin, youth worker at Southill Hub.
“The young people were speaking about the challenge for weeks beforehand and it gave them a great sense of pride as they were representing their clubs and community,” she added.
The inspiration for the event was the result of Suzi’s keen interest in the TV show, ‘Ireland’s Fittest Family’, with the youth worker keen to make the format workable for young people and youth clubs.
“I’ve wanted to do it for a while and with the year we’ve had with Covid-19, the time was right and the young people and other organisations were keen to get involved.”
A few Zoom meetings later, Suzi and the Southill Hub crew were joined by Westend Youth Centre, LYS Youth and Family Support Project and Team Garryowen (LYS Garryowen Youth Project, Irishtown Garda Youth Division Project and St John’s Youth Club).
“The result was an excellent and fun-filled day at Ballyhass Lakes was enjoyed by all the young people who completely embraced the challenges,” she concluded.
