Tyrone schools invited to compete for 'Ireland's Fittest' title

A CALL has gone out to schools in County Tyrone and elsewhere across the country, from well-known Irish Olympian, sprinter David Gillick, who has teamed up with Fyffes once again in a quest to find ‘Ireland’s Fittest School 2026’.

Aimed at promoting the importance of exercise, fitness and healthy eating amongst young people, a central feature of the programme will be a series of exercise routines - recorded by Gillick, alongside Irish fitness trainer, Sharon Flanagan - which competing schools can adopt as part of their PE curriculum and against which performance will be measured and tracked online.

Building on the success of the previous four years - and running for eight weeks from January 26 - the 2026 competition will then see the top four schools from each province compete head-to-head across four live regional qualifier events in April.

The top school from Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster will then progress to May’s grand final, hosted by patrons Gillick and Flanagan, at which the prize package will include €8,000 worth of sports equipment.

Speaking at the launch, Fyffes' head of marketing, Emma Hunt-Duffy, said: “Amongst schools nationwide, the level of interest in this competition continues to grow each year.

"We look forward to seeing more and more teachers and young pupils incorporating the exercise routines into their PE classes, as a fun and easy way to stay active and keep fit.”

School registrations are now open, and further details can be found online at:

www.fyffesfittestschool.ie