Mayo friends climbing Croagh Patrick for Motor Neurone Disease Association

A GROUP of friends are cycling 40km from Balla to Croagh Patrick and climbing the holy mountain with the hope of raising much needed funds and awareness for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA).

They were inspired by their close friend, Balla man Barry Jennings, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2018 at the young age of 31.

The group, who are all school friends, are setting off from Balla this Saturday, July 2, at 7 a.m. and will cycle 40km to Murrisk in Westport, where another group will join them to climb Croagh Patrick.

Speaking about the event, one of Barry's friends explained: “When Barry was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease it was devastating. It didn’t make sense, he was so young. We didn’t think this could happen to someone so young.It was a huge shock to us all.

“Barry has been amazing through it all, he really is an inspiration. We are all in awe of him and how he has handled his diagnosis. As his friends we wanted to do something to show our support and solidarity.

“That’s why we’re doing the cycle and climb to raise money and awareness for MND.

“Everybody is welcome to join us for the climb, it would be great to see as many faces there as possible. We have set up a donation page and we’d really appreciate if people could please donate to it if they can.”

The cycle will kick off from Balla at 7 a.m. and the group are expected to reach the foot of Croagh Patrick by around 9.30 a.m. for anyone that wants to join them in their climb.

The link to donate is: https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/11437188_fundraiser-for-irish-motor-neurone-disease-association.html.

For more, see https://facebook.com/events/s/ballas-climb-for-imnda/557244509293496/.