Four peaks in 24 hours!

Local hikers complete epic challenge for Suaimhneas

Eight local hikers were letting the sense of achievement sink in last week after rising above a truly epic challenge in support of Nenagh's Suaimhneas Cancer Support Centre.

Eoin Kelly, Liam Kelly, Cian McDonnell, Brian McCormack, Trevor Connolly, Hugh Flannery, Mark O’Flaherty and Tommy Connors scaled the highest peaks in Ireland's four provinces in less than 24 hours. The ‘Four Peaks Challenge’, as it sometimes referred to, has been taken on by many a mountaineer. But few have completed it within the short space of time that these local lads set for themselves.

For them, the challenge became a working objective last November when Eoin Kelly put the idea to his brother Liam, and friends Brian and Hugh. A keen hiker and photographer, Eoin had learned of another group's stab at the four peaks from a friend of his who photographed the attempt.

“I was sceptical enough hearing people saying they'd done it in 24 hours but when you sat down and did the maths and the timelines, I kind of thought: ‘this could be feasible, all going well,” Eoin said of broaching the idea. Getting on board with it, the four of them had begun training last January when Trevor, Mark, Tommy and Cian were inspired to join in.

Half of the group could be described as avid hikers. Trevor and Mark had done Mount Everest Base Camp. But for Liam, Tommy, Hugh and Cian, this was something new and they had to train hard to get up to the level required.

TRAINING REGIME

The eight of them embarked on a combination of gym work and two hikes a week. Locally, the hikes included the Silvermines (Step-Knockanroe) loop, as well as Keeper and Moylussa.

Many of the training hikes were taken on as early as 5.30 in the morning or as late as 9 at night. This was partly because the lads had to juggle work and family commitments, but also because they knew they would have to be able to hike in darkness in order to complete the four peaks in 24 hours.

They then took on each of the four peaks - Carrauntoohil, Co Kerry (1,038m), Mweelrea, Co Mayo (814m), Slieve Donard, Co Down (925m) and Lugnaquilla, Co Wicklow (850m) - one at a time, to get an idea of what they would be facing in the 24hr challenge.

Two more friends, James Flannery and Andy Murphy came on board to drive the hikers between each peak by bus. The group then set out their plan. They decided to go on the May Bank Holiday weekend, starting the 24hr timer at the foot of Lugnaquilla and stopping it atop Carrauntoohill.

They chose to leave Ireland's highest peak until last because the more experienced members of the group had each climded it around 20 times previously; they were were confident in their ability to navigate the mountain in darkness.

STRUGGLE ON THE SLOPES

Kicking off at 5am on Saturday, things went according to plan on Lugnaquilla, which the lads acended and descended in two and a half hours. They then had a three-hour drive up to Donegal for Slieve Donard, which they got up and down in a similar time.

Things went a little awry then on the five and a half-hour journey to Mweelrea. The group had to take an alternative route to what they had planned because several of them were experiencing motion sickness in the 16-seater bus.

That slightly delayed their scheduled start of the Mweelrea hike to 7.20pm. But they conquered the 814m Connaught peak in a much better time than anticipated, getting back to the bus in just under two hours.

“Some people struggled on different hikes,” Eoin recalled of the adventure. “A couple of us at the top of Slieve Donard started getting a small bit of cramp. One or two really struggled on Mweelrea, found it very tough. But all then rallied for Carrauntoohil.”

He himself found the last peak of the four the most difficult because he was unable to sleep on the bus. It was 2.30 on Sunday morning when they began their ascent of Carrauntoohil. Using the famed ‘Devil's Ladder’ to get up and down, they reached the top with half an hour still to spare on the timer.

‘BLOWN AWAY’

It was a profound achievement, but Eoin reported little elation in that moment in time. “I don't think it really dawned on us because it was so cold up on top of Carrauntoohil,” he said. “We were so tired, we just sat down for a brief couple of minutes and got a small bite to eat, didn't really say much and then just got up and made our way back down again.

“But it was a great sense of achievement when I think of what we've raised for Suaimhneas. I think it's kind of blown us away. When we initially started fundraising, we thought around the €5,000 mark was a good aim for.” More than five times that sum had been donated by the time the eight of them arrived at Carrauntoohil. Knowing this, Eoin said, gave the lads a real boost and they were delighted to realise what their effort was doing for their chosen cause.

“You'd be doing well to find someone who hasn't utilised Suaimhneas or utilised the North Tipp Hospice service,” he said. “People are always very generous but this has blown us away and I think that's what really drove us on.

“By the time we left on Friday evening and by the time we were half-way through, I think we had an additional €6,000 or €7,000 raised; that gave you the motivation to keep going.

“Another big thing was, we'd eight lads that started off. People were asking me did I think eight lads would finish. I honestly told them: ‘No’. I couldn't see it that we would have eight lads at the top of Carrauntoohil.

“But the fact that we did is testament to the lads that we have there - no one gave up. I do think that if one had given up, maybe two or three others would have followed!”

THE NEXT CHALLENGE

By the time they got home, the lads had travelled a remarkable 1,420km around Ireland. They had each walked 45km, climbing 3,354m in elevation.

Regarding the experience as “an absolutely amazing, gruelling and emotional 24 hours”, Eoin was coy on whether any of them might try to undertake it again. But he personally learned a lot from it and is now setting his sights on something even bigger.

“I'm kind of looking at the next challenge to see what's next. I like to push myself. I didn't know if this was something I'd be able to do. I was curious about it but now that I've done it, I am thinking: ‘What can I push myself to do next?”

Donations can still be made on the lads’ idonate.ie page ‘4 Peaks Challenge for Suaimhneas’.