Those of you who are regular readers of Saffron Gael will be painfully aware of our regular appeals for financial sponsorship and donations and indeed we have received strong support from both sponsors and clubs in our efforts to keep the site going.
Because of your support in the past Saffron Gael is now in its fourth year and we have had over 6 million views on the site in that time but, like everything else in life, finance is vital if we are to continue with our work.
Imagine our delight then when we received a phone call from one of our regular readers and contributors, Mark Hasson of St. Mary’s Rasharkin offering to help with our fund raising.
Mark regularly sends reports and photographs from games and events involving his club to our website and we are delighted to receive them and publish them.
On this occasion Mark informed us that he was running in the London Marathon and would like to raise funds for us through his ‘Just Giving’ page on Facebook and we were delighted to accept his generous offer but had no idea at the time just how successful it would be.
Mark in his Saffron Gael top before setting out for the London Marathon 
Mark Hasson proudly displayed his London Marathon medal after completing the race
We followed his progress and featured his story on a number of occasions on the Saffron Gael and the response from Mark’s friends and our regular readers was phenomenal and we sincerely thank all those who contributed to the appeal.
Last night John and I travelled out to Dreen where Mark and his beautiful daughters, May and Anna presented us with a cheque for £2060, a truly remarkable sum.
For the record, Mark finished the London Marathon in a time of 3hours 56 minutes and he tells me it was his worst Marathon time and he was glad to see the finish. He has completed marathons in Belfast 2010, London 2016, Berlin 2017, Dublin 2018, London (Virtual Marathon) 2020 and this was his sixth marathon in all.
Once again we thank Mark for his very generous gesture and he has certainly went the extra mile for Saffron Gael and look forward to seeing him on Sunday at Ahoghill where he’s sure to be cheering on his brothers and the Rasharkin team in their quest to collect the Junior Championship title when they face Naomh Comhghall in the final.