The Master’s Coombe Camino Challenge

Ten staff members from the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital were due to fly to France yesterday to walk the first part of the Camino de Santiago which they planned to complete over the course of seven trips in seven years. However, due to Covid-19, the group made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s walk, creating instead a special 5km loop honouring the history of the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital and the wider Liberties area.

The group of ten were joined by more than 100 of their frontline colleagues and family members who signed-up for what was a mammoth 12-hour socially-distanced relay in a bid to walk 780 kms between them, the equivalent of the entire pilgrim path known as The Way of St James which leads from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela.

The Master’s Coombe Camino was designed to comply with current Covid-19 guidelines with each participant walking alone or as part of a pod of family members/close colleagues comprising no more than six people, with a maximum of 15 people spread across the 5km looped route at any one time. It included a range of local landmarks including the old Coombe Hospital Portico, Christ Church Cathedral and St James’s Church both of which have a close association with the Camino de Santiago.

The brainchild of the Master of the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital, Professor Michael O’Connell, The Master’s Coombe Camino is part of a seven-year journey towards the Hospital’s bicentenary in 2026 during which staff and supporters will join together to raise funds for Friends of the Coombe in support of a number of vital projects in the areas of women’s health and maternity care.

If you would like to make a donation, you can do so here: https://bit.ly/359VZlP