From Mizen to Malin Head

Pedal Power fundraiser for IKA

As well as enjoying a great personal physical endurance achievement, seven Tipperary men who cycled from Mizen Head to Malin Head within 24 hours in June, have raised the considerable sum of €27,300 for the Tipperary Branch of the Irish Kidney Association (IKA).

It was with great pride that the Mizen to Malin challenge team leader, Francis Hogan, from Templemore, himself a kidney patient, and some other members of the Upperchurch Drombane Cycling Club, met with representatives of the Tipperary branch of the Irish Kidney Association, in September, to present a cheque from their fundraiser.

Accepting the cheque on behalf of the Irish Kidney Association (IKA) in Liberty Square, Thurles, was its newly-elected National Honorary Treasurer and Tipperary woman, Joan Gavan, from Soloheadbeg, Donohill, along with Tipperary IKA Branch Officers.

Joan is a living kidney donor and she said: “It is a great honour for me, in my new role, to be here today with our Tipperary Branch members Orla Hogan, Ann Hackett and Mary Adamson, and to meet such an inspirational group of people from my native county.

“These seven men showed great fortitude and determination by completing such a gruelling long-distance challenge in very harsh weather conditions and all for the sake of raising considerable funds, which will benefit kidney patients and their families, as well as increasing organ donation. We thank you and your families for their encouragement, Upperchurch Drombane Cycling Club for so passionately coming behind the event, your essential and dedicated backroom travelling team, and all your supporters and generous sponsors for making such a successful event.

“On behalf of the IKA I want to thank you wholeheartedly for your significant contribution. Wishing you all good health.”

Taking part in the Mizen 2 Malin Challenge were Upperchurch Drombane cyclists: 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 (on the Tipperary border); and self-employed kidney patient Francis Hogan from Templemore.

Months of preparation and intensive training went into the 24-hour 600km challenge, which included 4,000 meters of elevation, for the seven members of Tipperary's Upperchurch Drombane Cycling Club. Their goal was to raise as much money as possible for the Tipperary Branch of the IKA. By the time they crossed the finish line, the seven cyclists, one of them a kidney patient, had raised over €16,000 for the charity. A further €11,000 plus was gathered later from sponsors and others who had pledged to support the event.

Setting out from Mizen Head at Ireland's most southerly point on Saturday, June 25, at 3pm the seven cyclists could never have imagined how their resolve would have been tested by consistent rain and wind all the way, until they wheeled up, weather beaten but victorious, at Malin Head at the tip of Donegal at 2.30pm on Sunday.

Orla Hogan, the Secretary of the Tipperary Branch of the IKA, commented: “We have huge admiration and appreciation to Upperchurch Drombane Cycling Club and these seven men who are truly magnificent for undertaking this gruelling challenge, which was made all the more difficult by unrelenting bad weather, to support the work of the Irish Kidney Association and in the process raise organ donor awareness. We thank them and everyone who was involved in supporting their mighty effort.”

The seven men and their travelling supporting team were greeted, when arriving to a wet and blustery Malin Head, by a welcoming party of family, friends including local dialysis patient John Hegarty (36) with his wife Mary and their four young children, Ella (7), Erin (4), Ada (3) and Ronan (1). For nearly 8 years, John has been making a two hour round trip, three times a week, to Letterkenny for life-saving haemodialysis treatment.

Challenge cyclist Francis Hogan, age 45, added: “The weather was brutal and we really were losing faith on being able to complete the challenge. While we felt fit for the challenge, we never envisaged the weather being so harsh from the time we set out, right through the night and into Sunday afternoon. We pushed the hardest that any of us have ever done before. We couldn't have done it without our supporters and the team that travelled by van guiding us along with words of encouragement and making sure we were fed and watered and had numerous changes of clothes. Supporters dotted along the long route on country roads, and in towns and villages, provided a welcome boost to our resolve also.

“Our stop in Birdhill was a Godsend with supporters setting up a marquee and heaters for us with warm food and refreshments. It felt like a five-star hotel and gave us time to re-energise and to focus on our goal. Knowing that donations kept pouring in from so many generous supporters, individuals and companies, this goodwill spurred us on.

“Now that the journey is over, we are proud of our massive achievement, made possible by everyone that came behind us, and in particular our club Upperchurch Drombane. As part of our recovery, we relaxed in the leisure centre at the Red Castle Hotel, on the Inishowen Peninsula and later that night having a nice meal, along with family, friends and supporters.”

Francis, 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, 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.

Orla Hogan, the Secretary of the Tipperary branch has undergone four kidney transplants.

as a result of her hereditary kidney condition, Bidel Vardot Syndrome. She underwent two living donor kidney transplants, one from her mother Nora in 1991 and following two deceased donor kidney transplants which each lasted four years, her most recent successful and longest surviving transplant, took place in 2008 with a kidney donated by her younger brother Cathal Hogan.

Orla comes from a well-known sporting family in Tipperary. Her father Séamus Hogan played hurling for Tipperary when they won the All-Ireland final in 1971.