GUARDS HEAD OUT TO SEA
IT'S a long, long way from Mallow to Fishguard – particularly if you are not going by boat.
However, this minor inconvenience has not put off five north Cork based gardai who plan to wakeboard across the Irish Sea in a bid to raise funds for Special Olympics Munster.
The intrepid five intend to write themselves into the record books by covering the 62-mile stretch of sea between Rosslare and Fishguard in a mere five-hours.
Four of the gardai taking part in the run – Liam Phillips, David White, Brian Callanan and Anthony Daly – are based in Mallow as was the fifth member of the team Sergeant Hugh Twomey who is currently based in Tralee.
For those who may be unfamiliar with the concept of wakeboarding, it involves balancing on a small surfboard while being towed at high speed by a boat.
Liam told The Corkman the colleagues regularly travel to Killaloe in Co Clare to indulge their passion for the sport.
"David has been a big fan of wakeboarding for a long time and persuaded the rest of us to give it a go," he said.
It was on one of their trips to Killaloe that they came up with the idea of trying to break the world record.
"Each year we do something to raise funds for Special Olympics, normally a cycle. This year we thought it would be good to do something different and more high profile. Judging by the interest in the run so far, I think we have achieved that," he said.
"The initial idea was to try something small, perhaps on a lake. It kind of grew legs and ended up with us deciding to go for the record. This is not something that you can do on a whim, so we train almost every day and practice three-days a week to make sure we are ready for the challenge," he added.
The run, which is scheduled for Wednesday, August 10, will take place in a relay fashion with each of the team spending 10 minutes at a time on the board while travelling at speeds of up to 20 knots.
"We are keeping an eye on the weather forecast to ensure that it goes ahead. If the weather does not fall into place on the day then we will reschedule to the next nearest suitable date," he said.
"People have suggested that we may be mad for doing this. I would prefer to think that we are ambitious — and optimistic," Liam said
Sponsorship cards are available at every garda station in the country and people can donate to a special account on the Special Olympics Ireland website.
"If only half of all the gardai in the country gave €5 to the fund that would raise €30,000. That's before donations from the public and corporate sponsors. We hope that people across the country will get behind us so we can raise as much money as possible for this fantastic cause," said Liam.
For more information and to donate online visit www.specialolympics.ie/ wakeboard.
- BILL BROWNE bbrowne@corkman.ie
