Schools in Waterford encouraged to apply for 'Ireland's Fittest' series

A call from well-known Irish Olympian, David Gillick, has gone out to schools in County Waterford in a quest to find 'Ireland’s Fittest School 2026.'

David, who was a sprinter, has teamed up with Fyffes to roll out the programme.

Aimed at promoting the importance of exercise, fitness, and healthy eating amongst young people, a central feature of the programme will be a series of exercise routines.

David, alongside Irish fitness trainer, Sharon Flanagan will create the programme, which competing schools can adopt as part of their PE curriculum.

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Performance will be measured and tracked online. 

It will run for 8 weeks from January 26th and the competition will then see the top four schools from each province compete head-to-head across four live regional qualifier events in April.

The top school from Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster will then progress to May’s grand final, hosted by David and Sharon.

The prize package will include €8,000 worth of sports equipment.

"Amongst schools nationwide, the level of interest in this competition continues to grow each year. We look forward to seeing more and more teachers and young pupils incorporating the exercise routines into their PE classes, as a fun and easy way to stay active and keep fit," Fyffes' head of marketing, Emma Hunt-Duffy, said.

 School registrations are now open and further details can be found online at www.fyffesfittestschool.ie