Lord Mayor of ABC Council, Mealla Campbell, visited Lough Neagh Discovery Centre to launch the event and announce that she too will be doing the “Swim 4 Oran” on 14th September 2019 at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre.
Lord Mayor Campbell challenges everyone to take part in either the Try-A-Swim or in one of the longer swims or indeed to come along and support the action packed family fun day also taking place on dry land.
Swim 4 Orán will be a charity open water swimming event to raise funds for the Children’s Heartbeat Trust.
There will be a 150m “Try-A-Swim” and a 150m fun swim with Ripples Special Olympics Swim Club, while the longer distances will include 750m, 1.5k and 3k.
All events are open to adults & children.
We also aim to provide something fun for everyone in the water or on dry land with a range of attractions and amusements to keep non-swimmers entertained.
We are doing all this in memory of Orán Creaney, the late grandson of one of our founding members, Francie McAlinden.
Orán was born in June 2008 with a single ventricle heart.
His heart condition coupled with a feeding peg meant that he had little energy and was tube fed three times a day. This never got him down and he was proud of his “Special Heart”.
He loved life and making people happy.
Sadly, after his third open heart surgery, Orán passed away on October 7, 2014. He was 6 years old. In memory of this brave little boy.
All proceeds will go to the Children’s Heartbeat Trust. Register for the swim here.
