PKRF Record Breaking Year with €115,502.29 Raised.

PKRF Record Breaking Year for Fundraising

‘The Punchestown Kidney Research Fund Charity Race is the most important race of the festival because it is the race the makes a massive difference to many lives’.

• 2022 was a record-breaking year for the PKRF with a total of €115,502.29 raised.
• Participants in the Punchestown Charity Race raised €93,576.55 which is in itself a record in 31 years of the event.
• Leinster and Ireland rugby player James Tracy raised an additional €21,925.74 with the February Freezebury Challenge.
• This put the total raised at a phenomenal €1,702,677.29.

As a result of these funds the PKRF has managed to support the following projects this year:

• A Pilot Peer Support programme for all kidney patients in Ireland. This program will offer vital counselling and associated supports to kidney patients and their families who are dealing with all the various issues and concerns that unfortunately is all part of being a dialysis or transplant patient.
• Established the James Tracy/Kidney Beam Exercise programme for all dialysis & transplant patients, which will enable all patients to access free, online, live and on demand exercise classes, specifically tailored to all different levels of fitness and specifically for kidney patients.
• Continued research into Polycystic Kidney Disease in partnership with the Irish Nephrology Society under the guidance of the Irish Research Council.
• Continued our support for our Art Therapy programmes for Dialysis Patients in Tallaght & Waterford Dialysis Units.
• Continued our support for our Sports Program for Dialysis & Transplant Patients.
• Organised a trip to Lourdes for one young Dialysis patient and a carer.

James Nolan, Chairman of the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund reflected on a momentous year:  “So many people deserve huge thanks for making the charity race such an unbelievable success.  The Punchestown Kidney Research Fund enjoys the privilege of being permitted to run during the Punchestown Festival. Great credit is due to all the team at Punchestown who make our race day so special, as well as all the staff at I.H.R.B who so generously volunteer their services on the day and also the staff at H.R.I. & R.A.C.E. who ensure everything is run correctly.

We are very grateful to all the owners and the trainers who have given continued support over 31 years by allowing horses to run. We would like to acknowledge the various forms of media, whose coverage of the PKRF Race in whatever way, is hugely important both to our charity and to all those people awaiting life-saving transplants; you all give hope to so many others by raising the profile of Organ Donor Awareness in Ireland”.