CARE 3 Peaks Ireland post-event report

On the weekend of 10th and 11th May 2008, 5 teams of Irish Challengers took to the mountains to tackle the CARE 3 Peaks Challenge – Ireland. Teams of 4-7 walkers, with their dedicated support crew, gathered in the South West of Ireland to start their Challenge and take on the Emerald Isle’s highest 3 stand alone mountains.

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Roadstone make their way up Carrauntounhil
Early on Saturday morning the teams arrived in high spirits for Check In and briefings at Fossa Community Centre. Although there was a drizzly start to the day the weather soon cleared up for a glorious morning on the first leg of the event. Fully briefed and kitted up for all eventualities, teams headed for the start where they began their first Challenge, to conquer Ireland’s highest peak, Carauntoohil, a demanding 1039m ascent.

The weather remained kind to the teams, with glorious sunshine and clear skies offering fantastic scenery and views. With all teams successfully conquering their first mountain, it was time for their support crew to whisk them away to the Dingle peninsular. Here they would climb Mount Brandon, 952m, in glorious sunshine with stunning views out to sea and up the West coast of Ireland. On a couple of occasions the views were obscured and teams enveloped by low cloud, but these were soon cleared by the strong breeze coming in off the Atlantic.

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Teams come in at Mount Brandon
With all teams safely off their second mountain by 10 pm, it was time for the walkers to get some well earned rest while their support crews embarked on the over night journey across Ireland. Heading for the Wicklow mountains, just south of Dublin, there was an early start on Lugnaquillia to complete the event. Teams were greeted by a beautiful sunrise at Challenge Base, and were in fantastic spirits, considering the time and stage of the event, as they headed off. All teams completed the 925m ascent in good time and were cheered across the finish line by Challenge staff, volunteers, support crew and fellow teams.

There were fantastic displays of team spirit and determination on this event that everyone should be really proud of! But the real achievement of the weekend has to be the €34,500 (£27,000) raised by teams that will go to support CARE International’s poverty fighting programmes overseas.

Special mentions need to be made to the team from Roadstone Dublin Ltd (Team WATER) who won the top fundraising prize by bringing in a fantastic €10,000. And to Noel Godfrey from Siac Ferrovial JV (Team FOOD) whose team not only made the fastest time on the event, but his dedication and enthusiasm for the Challenge from the day he registered was limitless. From recruitment, through training and fundraising, he tackled everything with great humour and showed fantastic support to fellow teams taking part.

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Noel and the team from SFJV receive their medals!
Noel had this to say after the event:

“Tremendous organisation and support from the CARE team, a supreme performance from our team for a truly worthwhile challenge, stories to talk about for a long time, a must-do event for any company. Well done guys!”

CARE Challenge Sponsorship & Marketing Manager, Michele Evans, added:

“We’re delighted with the results from this year’s event. All teams took part with great commitment and determination. The fundraising total is fantastic and will make a real difference to CARE’s work overseas. We would like to say a big thank you to all teams, support crew and sponsors for taking part and making this such a fantastic event. We look forward to seeing you on the mountains again next year!”

At the post event party at the Arlington Hotel in Dublin, participants enjoyed a hearty meal accompanied by Irish music and dancing. Some even summoned up the energy to enjoy the music and show off some dance moves of their own until the early hours of Monday morning. A well known way to stretch out those weary legs!

 

Team Results 

Company Name & Teamleader Call Sign Caraun-tounhil Mount Brandon Lugna-quilla Drive Time Total Time
Siac Ferrovial JV - Noel Godfrey Food 04:06 03:55 02:53 10:00 20:54
Arup Consulting - Dave Hennigar Urban 04:44 03:39 02:58 10:00 21:21
Roadstone - Colin Doyle Water 04:44 04:11 04:06 10:00 23:01
SFJV M3 Motorway - Claudia Juncal Farming 06:42 03:06 05:02 10:00 24:50
Barclays Ireland - Carol Eccles Conflict 07:08 02:50 04:53 10:00 24:51
 
 

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CARE challenge are an in-house charity fundraising team. We offer many exciting charity events that you can join. All our charity challenges offer amazing adventures outdoors and lots of our activities take place over adventure weekends. If charity runs are your thing, then we have lots to offer - 10K runs, half marathons and many other running events. Or, how about cycling events for charity? We certainly have lots to offer in the charity cycling department. There are charity rides where you can cycle London to Brighton or you can even do a charity bike ride from London to Paris, if London to Brighton isn't far enough! We also have some charity walks and hikes. Later this year we have a sponsored walk that is 25 miles long in order to celebrate the 25th anniversary of CARE International's UK office. If activities outdoors and adventure weekends get your adrenalin pumping, then why not sign up for one of our mountain challenges? We have numerous charity challenges on mountains over the year from three peaks challenges to 24 peaks challenges - if you think you're up to it! For many of our charity fundraising events you can register as a teamleader or part of a team. We believe our charity challenges offer great teambuilding activities and are really great for team events. So if you're interested in corporate team building through a great charity challenge then the CARE Challenge Series is for you. Click here to see all our charity challenges.