'Fair City’ star comes on board for Sports Achievers Awards

Beautiful 'Fair City’ star Aoibhin Garrihy, who plays Neasa Dillon in the soap, is delighted to join a cause close to heart. Aoibhin has teamed up with Newgate Mazda and the Meath Chronicle to promote the new Meath Sports Achievers Scheme. Not only is Aoibhin a huge fan of Mazda (she drives a Mazda 3 herself), she’s also a huge sports fan herself and, like many schoolchildren across Meath, she participated in as many sports as she could find the time to do when at school. Her acting and modelling commitments have meant she has less time to pursue her love of sports, but Aoibhin said: “Seeing all of the entries for the Sports Achievers Awards was an inspiration. T see all of the kids getting out there and being active has made me want to get back into playing sports.” The Sports Achievers awards were established to reward primary school pupils in Meath for their participation in sport. Every month until March 2011, three finalists are selected from the entries sent in from the 100+ primary schools in Meath. Parents, grandparents, brothers and sister, aunties and uncles, friends and neighbours are all encouraged to send in nominations also. Aoibhin went on to say: “What I really loved about the awards is that they don’t just reward students who have won medals and trophies; anyone can enter no matter what their achievement. The point is that we want to see entries coming in from everyone, no matter how weird or wonderful their participation in a sport.” Gary Hoey, Business Manager at Newgate, said: “Aoibhin is a Mazda driver herself and we know her well. We were delighted that Aoibhin wanted to come on board. The fact that she has a genuine passion for sport and that she’s a star very much on the rise would lead me to hope that it encourages more schools and parents to send in entries for their pupils. There is no limit to the amount of entries that can be sent in so we would hope that each school encourages every one of their students to participate.” The fantastic prize on offer is €2,000 for the winning pupil’s school which will be announced in March next year, and each month the winner from the three finalists will receive €250 for their school. That’s a prize fund of €3,500 (€250 a month for six months and a final prize of €2,000) for schools in Meath. The overall winning pupil will also receive a fabulous bicycle and safety equipment. Each month, the three finalists will meet with Aoibhin who will present them with a Sports Achiever Medal, a Sports Achiever Plaque for their school and the winner will get €250 for their school. They’ll also appear in the Meath Chronicle with Aoibhin along with details of their achievement and details of their school. For more information on the Newgate Mazda Sports Achievers in association with the Meath Chronicle, see the Meath Chronicle sports pages each week, contact Gary Hoey in Newgate Mazda on (046) 902 7777 or email him at gary@newgate.ie