Mayo ladies captain urges people to bike and hike for CRITICAL charity

THE captain of the Mayo ladies football team is encouraging adventure seekers to take on a unique challenge to help bring critical and advanced levels of care to more communities across Ireland.

Kathryn Sullivan has signed up to take on Bike & Hike in aid of CRITICAL, the emergency medical response charity, this May.

The charity has teamed up with Elite Events Management to run a series of challenges in picturesque locations along the Wild Atlantic Way in Mayo, Kerry and Donegal between May and September.

The first Bike & Hike will take place in Mayo on Saturday, May 13, starting and finishing at Westport Harbour. The 50 km event includes a 7 km climb to the summit of Croagh Patrick taking in the breathtaking views of Clew Bay.

CRITICAL provides pre-hospital emergency care to critically ill and injured patients in their local communities through its network of volunteer emergency medical responders.

One of charity’s volunteer critical care doctors in Mayo, Dr. Jason Horan, responded to 40 separate incidents and emergencies during 2022. Funds raised by the Bike & Hike in Mayo will help to replace his ageing response vehicle and upgrade medical equipment.

The charity has doctors in Donegal and Dublin and will soon have teams in Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Waterford and north Cork. It is also exploring opportunities to expand its network of volunteer responders into more local communities over the coming 12 months.

The volunteers are tasked by the National Ambulance Service to serious incidents and their rapid response vehicles are kitted out with specialist medical equipment which allows them to perform complex and often life-saving medical procedures at the scene.

The Bike & Hike event was launched by Mayo ladies football captain Kathryn Sullivan and Dr. Lisa Cunningham, consultant in emergency medicine at Mayo University Hospital and CRITICAL board member.

Said Kathryn Sullivan: “I’m excited to sign up for Bike & Hike and I’m encouraging everyone who would like to take on something new to join me on the day. It is a brilliant way to get fit, all people need is a moderate level of fitness and they will be provided with guidance and support on training throughout too. More importantly, you will be raising funds for a vital charity helping CRITICAL to kit out its volunteers so they can continue their life saving work.”

There is no registration fee, instead participants are asked to raise a minimum of €500 to support CRITICAL. It costs an average of €25,000 to establish an advanced level volunteer doctor in the community, and €120,000 to put a new critical care response vehicle on the road.

Micheál Sheridan, CEO of CRITICAL, said: “We believe that everyone should have access to rapid emergency medical care regardless of where they live in Ireland. We want to bring critical and advanced levels of care to more rural and urban communities.

“Our volunteer critical care doctors and experienced medics live in these communities and fundraisers like this help us to provide them with the lifesaving equipment they need to treat seriously ill and injured people at the scene, essentially bringing the Emergency Department to them.

“Our volunteer doctors in the west and northwest responded to more than 140 during 2022 and are providing a vital service. The funds raised in Mayo will be used to help replace an ageing vehicle and to upgrade the medical equipment.”

Participants will be provided with a fundraising pack, a training plan and guidance to help with the physical and fundraising aspects of the event. Each event will be fully supported with bike mechanics, mountain safety and medical assistance throughout.

The second Bike & Hike event takes place on Saturday, June 3, in Co. Kerry, starting and finishing at Killarney Brewery. It includes a 12 km climb of Carrauntoohil and a 66 km cycle taking in Lough Acoose and Lough Caragh before returning to Killarney.

The final event will go ahead on Saturday, September 23, in Donegal, starting from Gortahork. Participants will climb Mount Errigal and will cover 68 km before returning to Gortahork.

Registration is now open. To sign up for your chosen location visit https://bikeandhike.criticalcharity.ie/.