D’Arcy And Horgan Tackle Guinness Training Day

Leinster and Ireland stars Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan linked up with Waterford hurling ace Dan Shanahan to take sports fans from around the country through a ‘Pace Yourself’ training day at the RDS, which combined key sporting skills with education on responsible drinking.

The ‘Pace Yourself’ initiative is complementary to the Guinness association with rugby’s autumn internationals and the All-Hurling Championship, and aims to encourage people to adopt a sensible approach towards their alcohol consumption.

Sixteen sports fans from across the country were selected from a nationwide competition to take part in the special training day, under the eagle eye of top fitness coach Mike McGurn, and the players.

Shane Horgan commented: “As athletes, we have to learn to pace ourselves on the pitch. It’s important to ensure you conserve enough energy to deliver the same level of performance in the last few minutes of the game, as you do from the start.

“I think Diageo’s campaign is on the ball – it reminds us all that the same principles apply to a night out, it’s equally important when we are out for a night that we pace our drinking.”

In addition to learning from the players how to pace themselves on the pitch, during interactive skills tests incorporating elements of both rugby and hurling, the prize winners were also taken through part of the Drink IQ session, which provides basic information about alcohol, its effect on the body and about how many standard drinks or units are in the drinks that people commonly consume.

Jean Doyle, Head of Social Responsibility, Diageo, said: “The Pace Yourself campaign is not designed to preach to consumers, but rather encourages them to know their limits and to stop and think about their drinking behaviours.

“Today’s event was designed to deliver that key message to the prize winners in a fun and interactive session.

“We are delighted that some of the country’s leading sports stars have partnered with us to help deliver these important messages,” she added.

The Pace Yourself initiative includes helpful hints and tips about alcohol, which are available on www.drinkaware.ie.

The campaign was supported by a radio promotion on ‘The Right Hook’ show on Newstalk, as well as online activity, where the lucky group of winners were selected to participate in the training day.