Irish Life is back again this Pride Month with their ‘Run the Rainbow Challenge’. If you are looking to support some LGBTQ+ charities like ourselves, enjoy some good weather and get active, this is the perfect thing to kick off your summer. Plus, you’ll get a chance to win a fabulous voucher!
From June 11 until June 24, participants are challenged with running 100km over the 14-day period. Runners who reach the target goal will be entered into a draw for a €1,000 voucher for the five-star Monart Hotel and Spa in County Wexford.
On top of this, Irish Life has also pledged that if at least 50% of challenge entrants meet the 100km threshold, four LGBTQ+ charities will receive €10,000 split between them. The charities involved are LGBT Ireland, Belong To, ShoutOut and yours truly, GCN. In both 2024 and 2025, the Run the Rainbow Challenge managed to reach its threshold, which could never have been achieved without the help of some amazing participants.
The 2026 competition marks a continuation of a tradition with Irish Life, with 2024 being the start of the Run the Rainbow Challenge. However, before this, Irish Life operated the Step It To Stonewall campaign, which in 2023 also managed to raise €10,000 to be split amongst GCN and other LGBTQ+ charities in Ireland.
Step It To Stonewall operated over many locations worldwide, such as Amsterdam, Capetown, Taipei, Sydney, San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro, with the last stop being the famous Stonewall Inn in New York.
Fundraisers like this are a huge help to the work GCN and other LGBTQ+ charities do, and now you can be part of it, too!
Entrants are not required to run the challenge, they can walk, jog or run. All they have to do is meet the distance goal.
Those interested in competing for this cause can do so by downloading the ‘MyLife by Irish Life’ app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, then clicking through the tabs Social – Challenges – Pending – MyLife’s Run the Rainbow Challenge. Here you can find further details and join in on the challenge!
© 2026 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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