County Cork’s Ballyhass National School has been crowned ‘Ireland’s Fittest School 2025’.
Following its participation in a three-month competition, in which hundreds of schools from all over Ireland, north and south, took part, Ballyhass National School went on to win the live ‘grand final’ in which the top school from each of the Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster provincial finals featured.
The grand final, which took place at the Athlone International Arena, was hosted by one of Ireland’s best-known Olympians – sprinter David Gillick – and saw the four schools contest for a prize package which included €8,000 worth of sports equipment.
Supported by Irish fruit importer Fyffes and tracked online, the purpose of the competition, launched last December and now in its fourth year, was to promote the importance of exercise, fitness and healthy eating amongst young people. A central feature of the programme was a series of exercise routines which competing schools could adopt as part of their PE curriculum and against which performance could be measured. Previous competition winners were Donegal’s Scoil Na Croise Naofa, Dunfanaghy (2022); Meath’s Gilson National School, Oldcastle (2023) and County Waterford’s St. Mary’s Touraneena National School (2024).
Congratulating the pupils, teachers and staff of all the schools who took part in this year’s competition, Fyffes head of marketing, Emma Hunt-Duffy praised the level of interest that the competition generated amongst schools throughout the island adding: “it was really encouraging to see so many incorporating the exercises into their PE classes as a means to keep fit, whilst having so much fun doing it. Our sincere thanks to all involved for their enthusiasm, commitment and support”.
Details at www.fyffesfittestschool.ie
