Seven members of the Upperchurch Drombane Cycling Club battled ‘brutal’ weather conditions to complete a 600 km cycle challenge within 24 hours from Mizen2Malin, and all with a half hour to spare!
Setting out from Mizen Head at Ireland’s most southerly point on Saturday at 3pm they overcame almost non-stop wind and rain to reach Malin Head at the tip of Donegal at 2.30pm on Sunday.
Their goal was to raise as much money as possible for the Tipperary Branch of the Irish Kidney Association.
The seven cyclists, one of them a kidney patient, have raised over €16,500 for the charity.
Taking part in the Mizen 2 Malin Challenge were David Russell, an award winning young farmer from Thurles, as well as father and son David and Jamie Donovan, also from Thurles, along with building contractor Seamus Duggan, from Templemore, farmer Pat Heffernan from Moyglass, Fethard, James Tobin, an Actuary, who lives in Urlingford, Co Kilkenny and self employed kidney patient Francis Hogan from Templemore.
Francis Hogan, a father of five children, was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), a hereditary condition. when he was in his early twenties. Through careful medical intervention and medication and healthy lifestyle choices, including dietary and fitness, he has slowed down the progression of his disease and he now has 25% kidney function. Francis is a strong advocate for fitness in aiding a person’s physical and emotional wellbeing. In 2001 Francis’s late father Gus, who also shared the same hereditary kidney condition, passed away in hospital, at the young age of 49, with heart failure just a day after undergoing a kidney transplant.
Donations can still be made here https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/francis-hogan-549-hogan
