(L-R) Liz O'Malley, Deputy Head of Mission at the Irish Embassy in Luxembourg; Jane Murray, founder & coordinator of Run in the Dark Luxembourg; Susan Gorman, volunteer leader at Run in the Dark Luxembourg; Jean McDonald, Irish Ambassador to Luxembourg; Credit: Jazmin Campbell / Chronicle.lu

On the evening of Thursday 8 February 2024, the organisers of Run in the Dark Luxembourg invited stakeholders who have supported the event over the years to a reception in Luxembourg City.

The event was hosted by Ireland's Ambassador to Luxembourg, Jean McDonald, and brought together various sponsors and partners, as well as other groups or individuals who have shown their support for Run in the Dark Luxembourg over the past decade.

Every November, some 25,000 people in about 50 countries don their flashing armbands and running shoes to run in the dark for a good cause. All fundraising and donations go to the movement's charity partner, Collaborative Cures, which scales Mark Pollock's efforts to bring people together to cure paralysis in our lifetime.

Jane Murray, who initiated Run in the Dark Luxembourg as a pop-up event in 2014, presented - with the help of a video clip - the purpose of Run in the Dark, the progress being made thanks to the funds raised and its impact in terms of helping to find a cure for spinal cord injury. She noted some of the impressive exploits of Irish explorer Mark Pollock, who became the first blind person to race to the South Pole in 2009 and who had to learn to take his first steps again after breaking his back in 2010. Since 2011, Mark Pollock and his team have been working to catalyse collaborations (now valued at €100 million) and to commercialise solutions aimed at curing paralysis.

Jane Murray noted her personal link to Mark Pollock, with whom she had gone to university back in Ireland. She thanked all those present on Thursday evening for their continued support and highlighted how the Luxembourg event had grown from 50-60 participants ten years ago to some 2,000 participants in 2023. She expressed her pride at what the event has become and looked forward to working together to create a "bigger" and "more successful" edition in 2024.

Ambassador Jean McDonald congratulated the organisers on bringing this "successful Irish export" to Luxembourg.