The Wild Geese story came alive last week at the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Awards ceremony. The awards are in their 9th year and Irish talent came out in Dublin to celebrate the growing Irish contribution to the film and television industry.

‘The Irish Film & Television Awards is Ireland’s showcase to the world of what our small but outstanding film and television community has to offer’

Aine Moriarty, CEO of the IFTA

The Wild Geese were faced with a simple choice when they left Ireland: survive and prosper or submit to defeat. With the latter not being an option, they worked hard to achieve success. This is true of the IFTA awards, as many of the talent honoured have already made an incredible impact on Hollywood and British cinema, as well as in their native Ireland. 

It’s not surprise that everyone was talking about Michael Fassbender, who won the IFTW award for Best Actor in a Lead Role for Shame. This is the second time he has been honoured by this award. In 2008 he received it for his role in Hunger. On both of these films, Fassbender teamed up with Design come Director Steve McQueen. Clearly a winning duo. On their relationship, Steve McQueen says:

‘It’s beautiful. It’s one of the most important relationships I’ve had in my life’

‘We don’t take our relationship for granted, at all, whatsoever… I think we both know, as well as a good friendship, this is a professional relationship where we have to bring our game’

For some, Fassbender’s win will not be unexpected. This is his time. But, being honoured by your native country (Fassbender is half Irish, half German and lived in Ireland growing up) is both an exhilarating and humbling experience, one we have known very well recently. The Wild Geese Single Malt* was selected as one of Ireland’s Reserve Cuvées last month. This is defined as a signature product of outstanding quality. This is extremely high praise coming from Ireland. 

Glen Close won the award for Best International Actress for her role in Albert Nobbs. She fell in love with the story early in her career and worked hard to get it into production, financing a great deal of it herself. She worked with Irish Booker Prize winner John Banville on adapting the script. 

‘I loved my collaboration with John Banville. Whatever Irish tweaks we could make we did. It had to have wonderful Irish twists to things’

Other award winners on the night were:

Best Film: The Guard

Director Film: John Michael McDonagh, The Guard

Actor – Film: Michael Fassbender, Shame

Actress – Film: Saoirse Ronan, Hanna

Supporting Actor – Film: Chris O’Dowd, Bridesmaids

Supporting Actress – Film: Glenn Close

For the full list, vist the ITFA website. 

‘The Irish [film & television] industry consistently delivers world-class standards of work that is watched by a global audience’

Aine Moriarty

*In North America The Wild Geese Irish Whiskey is sold under the brand name ‘The Wild Geese Irish Soldiers & Heroes’ 

The confetti has settled, but after their 21-17 victory against the New England Patriots, the New York Giants have been reflecting on their turbulent season which ending in their second Super Bowl win.

MVP Eli Manning with the Lombardi Trophy

On Tuesday 7th February the team celebrated their win with parade through New York City, ending at City Hall where Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave them the keys to the city.

The parade began at Battery Park and passed along the Canyon of Heroes, ending at City Hall

Coach Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning on the  parade bus, celebrating with Giants fans

When we checked in on the Coast to Coast race on Friday, the competitors had just finished their first day. First time competitor Nathan Bell was leading the way and in close competition with Mark Beasley and Nathan Jones. As the first day drew to an end Nathan Bell only had a 50 second lead over Mark Beasley.

Although he suffered an injury during the first day, Nathan Bell stayed optimistic and focused on completing the challenge that still lay ahead: a 15km cycle, 67km kayak and a further 70km cycle.

This years Coast to Coast endurance race has already gotten under way in New Zealand. Competitors have already completed the first day of the event, and left the New Zealand’s west coast at 6am to face the first two segments of the challenge:

A 3km run and 55km cycle
The Mingha Deception Route Mountain Run, 33km

This is an internationally acclaimed adventure race and this year marks its 30th anniversary.

Leading the way in the men’s group is 21 year old Nathan Bell. Amazingly this is his first attempt at the endurance race. His father has competed in the race before, however, Nathan only ventured in to adventure racing in summer 2011. For someone so new to the endurance sport, his excellent run over the Goat Pass where he overtook a dozen of his competitors is something to be admired.

Shockingly, Nathan stumbled on the mountain run, injuring himself, but in an example of a true Man of Action, he picked himself up and carried on. He’s determined to finish his first race.  

But the a race win is not guaranteed for Bell. The Coast to Coast challenge is notoriously unpredictable and Bell has lead very close lead of 50 seconds. His nearest competitor, Mark Beasley is hot on his trail and Nathan Jones is 6 minutes behind him.

As this year marks the 30th anniversary of the endurance race, the organiser, Robin Judkins, has invited veteran competitors of the race to join him at the finish line at Summer Beach. They are all convinced that the race is still just as challenging as the first one.

One of the pioneer women racers, Vivienne Prince has acknowledged ‘it is still a challenge’ and although the equipment has improved, ‘rivers and mountains don’t change’.

Legendary runner Steve Gurney, who has won the event a record 9 times, is at the event to celebrate. A familiar face in the endurance race, last year he partnered with the race organiser for the team competition.

This 30th anniversary is a perfect time for the next generation of adventure runners to make their names known.

When an immigration officer at Sydney International Airport asked Richard Donovan if he had visited any other countries in the last six days, the response he got was extremely unexpected.

Richard had turned up in Australia to complete the final stretch of his World Marathon, which he had started only four days ago.

Beginning in -20C temperatures in the Antarctic, at the Russian Novo base. There he ran a 42km marathon, which was only the start of his epic journey. One he finished the first stretch, flew to Cape Town, South Africa to continue his World Marathon. Then on to Sao Paulo, Orlando in the USA, London in the UK, Hong Kong and finally arriving in Sydney.

Richard had run the World Marathon before, completing 7 marathons in 7 countries in 5 days, 10 hours and 8 minutes. Impressive as this is, he beat his own record when he completed his latest effort in Sydney.

Not only competing with the endurance needed to run a marathon, Richard also had to adapt to changing time zones and fluctuating temperatures. Fatigue was his major opponent, but Richard finished the challenge in 4 days, 22 hours and 3 minutes and had run a total of 183 miles.

An excellent story of endurance and commitment. Richard ran the marathon to highlight the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa and raise money for Irish-based charity organisation GOAL.

To donate to Richard’s cause, visit www.worldmarathonchallenge.com 

On this day over 100 years ago, one of The Wild Geese had arrived in the Antarctic and began an adventure that would define his career and place his name among the great veteran explorers of the polar regions.

A few weeks ago we explored Tom Crean’s contribution to the Terra Nova Expedition (1910 – 1912), when he walked 35 miles in near white-out, freezing conditions to bring back help for his sick team mate Lt. Evans. It was during the Discovery Expedition, when this heroism started to show.

Tom Crean joined the Discovery Expedition in New Zealand, where the expedition’s leader, Captain Robert Scott had docked his ship to fit his ship and replenish her crew. From the moment Crean joined the expedition, Scott was impressed, and as they set sail for the Antarctic the world was at Tom’s feet.

Captain Scott remarked about Crean and his ship mate from the HMS Ringarooma: ‘I like the look of these two… and think they will do well’

The Discovery arrived in the Antarctic on the 8th February 1902 and established a base at ‘Hut Point’. From here the expedition collected scientific information. Tom Crean was mostly assigned to sledging journeys and set up depots for exploration of the polar region.

As the expedition continued, Crean grew to be a prominent member of the team. This was his first experience of the Antarctic, but the inhospitable conditions didn’t phase him. Instead he got stuck in, spurred on by the hard work that was needed to survive in the region.

Sledging was the only method of transport across the land, and was extremely hard work. It demanded man-hauling equipment and supplies across the snow and ice in order to set up supply depots. During the entire exhibition, Crean sledged for a total of 149 days.

Although the Discovery expedition was relatively free from the tragedies of Terra Nova, Crean was faced with significant risk, especially since he was a novice.