Punchestown Festival 2010

Following a moving interview with the Fitzpatrick family aired on Ireland AM Friday 16th April on TV3, it was announced that there would be a combined effort on the part of the major Irish bookmakers, TV3 and the organisers of the Punchestown festival to aid the work of the IMNDA.

Michael Fitzpatrick TD gave a frank and honest account of his diagnosis and his approach to coping with the news that he is now living with Motor Neurone Disease. His son Darragh also spoke very honestly about the difficulty the family encountered when they first learnt of Michael's diagnosis.

Leon Blanche added to the interview by giving an account of how he witnessed his close friend and work colleague, Paul Magee, late son of RTE correspondent Jimmy Magee, live with the disease until his death in May 2008.

Darragh Fitzpatrick, Leon Banche and Michael Fitzpatrick TD

The Irish National Hunt Festival ran from Tuesday, April 20th to Saturday, April 24th. The festivities for the Irish National Hunt Festival kicked off with the 2010 Miss Punchestown competition which was being organised in aid of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association. The competition is now as popular as the races themselves and has developed into is a nationwide contest, which is open to all female applicants aged 18 years or older. This year's 2010 Miss Punchestown was Mercedes, a native from Spain whose friendly and funny personality won over the judges.

Our thanks to Maureen and Rob Catterson the main organisers on the night along with their mother Bridget who organised the competition and to TV3s Martin King who MC'd on the night. Martin emphasized his willingness to take part as he too had been a long and close friend of Paul Magee, late son of Jimmy Magee. Further thanks to everyone who bid in the auction on the night and helped to raise funds to continue the work of the IMNDA in the Kildare area and beyond.

In addition as part of the 2010 Miss Punchestown fundraiser, Paddy Power, Boylesports, Ladbrokes Ireland, Chronicle Bookmakers and Sportingbet.com took part in a tipster challenge ahead of this year's Punchestown Festival. And the interesting part of the tipster challenge is that the bookmaker who finished last of the five, had to fork out the €1,000 entry fee of their four rivals, making it €5,000 in total. Furthermore the five main bookmakers and a representative from the Sun newspaper donned the outfit of their favourite superhero to run in a specially organised fun-race. Again the last bookie to cross the line had to pledge a donation to the IMNDA.

Our sincere thanks to all who took part in these events over the week. To watch the interview with Michael Fitzpatrick, visit www.tv3.ie and use their search engine to find Michael Fitzpatrick or Motor Neurone Disease.