@sanctuaryrunners have running groups around the country to enable Irish residents to run alongside, and in solidarity with, #AsylumSeekers and #Refugees in #DirectProvision. Paul Blake Knox is a Dublin-based runner... "I’d never met anyone in Direct Provision before and I was never likely to. I live in middle class Dublin 14, I’m 68 and here I am meeting all these new, lovely, inspiring people, both runners from the immigrant community and the Irish runners too. I’ve always been involved in different things. I did hockey coaching, I took part in a #CycleAgainstSuicide, I’d done park runs for the @simoncommunity, and I was a ‘befriender’ with @spirasi_irl. It was through that, that I came across the Sanctuary Runners on Twitter. They run with people in Direct Provision and I thought it was a lovely idea. It tied in for me as I had just retired. They were so welcoming. I went along to Poolbeg Park in Sandymount one week, they gave me a t-shirt, and that was it -- I was a Sanctuary Runner. The runners were based in the Direct Provision Centre in Hatch Street, then they all got a letter to say that it was closing, and they were all moved out to Balseskin almost overnight. The nearest park run for there is Poppintree Park in Ballymun. So it was either I stay in Sandymount running on my own or I go out to Poppintree. There was no question, now I drive across the city every Saturday. People who live locally bring cakes, biscuits and tea and coffee, and at the end of the run, they lay out a beautiful big mat and we all get together and chat. There were fallacies I’d have had around immigrants, but they’re so far from the truth. When you’re running with someone over time, you talk to each other, and they’ll say, all they want to do is work and give their children a good education. It’s opened my mind. When you think about the history of Ireland, people were forced to leave. Leaving for desperate reasons, just wanting to improve their lives. These people are in the exact same boat. Sanctuary Runners are all over the country, if you’re thinking about joining, do it immediately - you’ll be nothing but welcomed."