By Jonathan Magee
THERE is a moment on Saturday night at every Relay for Life when the music stops and the track at ATU Letterkenny is ringed with light.
This year, 5,500 illuminated paper bags circled the track – each one carrying a name, a memory, a loss.
At the centre stood an empty table. No explanation needed.
A ring of light at dusk on Saturday night at the Relay for Life. Photo Clive Wasson.
By the time the 24-hour relay concluded today, more than 3,500 people had passed through the grounds each day, chairman Seamus Devine said – a figure that reflects both the reach of cancer in Irish life and the remarkable durability of a community event now in its fourteenth year.
There were 32 teams that took part this year. A sum of €163,241 had been raised by 4pm today, with more expected from teams and online donations in the days ahead. All funds go to the Irish Cancer Society, which provides support services to cancer patients and their families across Ireland. Since the event’s founding, Letterkenny’s relay has contributed hundreds of thousands of euros to the society’s work.
Relay for life Vertiv team. Photo Clive Wasson.
The Donegal News conducted an audio interview with Ena Barrett, a cancer survivor and founding member of the Relay for Life committee in Donegal, and chairman Seamus Devine earlier today.
The crowds peaked this afternoon for a concert by Daniel O’Donnell, who along with his wife Majella serves as patron of Donegal Relay for Life. More than 4,200 attended the second day, that speaks to Daniel’s enduring hold on his home county and the special place the event has in the hearts of many. He has been a consistent presence at the event, and his involvement is widely credited with helping to draw both attention and donations from further afield.
Among those marking the occasion was Sarah McGlinchey, a local cancer survivor, who cut the purple ribbon along with co-patron, Majella O’Donnell, to open the Survivor’s Lap – one of the weekend’s more quietly powerful rituals. For those walking it, the lap carries a weight that no fundraising total can easily capture. It is, in its way, the emotional heart of the weekend.
Majella O’Donnell – Relay for Life, 2026. Photo Clive Wasson
Patron of the event – Daniel O’Donnell and Liam Thompson cut the ribbon on the Carer’s Lap.
Relay for Life chairman Seamus Devine, who took on the role almost three years ago, credited a committee of 18 volunteers with making it happen. Without them, he said, none of it would be possible.
Relay for Life began in Letterkenny in 2012 as a small fundraising walk. It has since grown into one of the most significant community gatherings on the Donegal calendar, drawing participants from across the county and beyond.
For many, attendance has become an annual act of remembrance – a way of marking loss that is collective rather than solitary, public rather than private. Teams train together for weeks in advance. Some carry photographs. Others wear the names of the dead on their backs.
The candle bags were packed away on Sunday afternoon. The empty table was folded and stored. The track fell quiet. But the names, of course, remain.
Remembering those lost to cancer at the Relay for Life, 2026. Photo Clive Wasson