The Dunboyne Pedal Pushers gathered today to present a cheque for €25,000 to Lucia Ebbs, Fundraising Manager of CRY Ireland, the Irish charity which supports families affected by SADS (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome). The huge amount of money raised came from sponsorships and donations on the back of a 365km cycle around Ireland last month.
The challenging cycle took place over two days in September and the route included Dunboyne, Virginia, Edgeworthstown, Athlone, Ballinasloe, Birr, Roscrea, Tullamore, Edenderry, Enfield and Dunboyne making sure to hit all four provinces in Ireland.
Over the last few weeks the sponsorship and donations have been flooding in and today as the final cent was counted, it was revealed that the team raised more five times more than their initial target of €5,000.
The 26 cyclists who took part were made up of the Dunboyne Pedal Pushers cyclists group as well as staff from BearingPoint who were one of the main sponsors of the event. Other sponsors of the charity cycle included VHI, Allianz, Avonmore, Kantan MT and the Innovation Value Institute.
Speaking as the cheque was handed over, Michael O’Dwyer (Partner in BearingPoint and member of the Dunboyne Pedal Pushers) stated “The Dunboyne Pedal Pushers are extremely proud that we have been able to smash our fundraising target for the 4 Provinces cycle by raising over €25,000 in total. We know how critical these funds are to CRY and we’re delighted that the money raised will be well invested to help save lives.”
Lucia Ebbs, Fundraising Manager with CRY Ireland was there on the day to accept the cheque on behalf of CRY Ireland and spoke about why the money raised is so desperately needed, “We can’t believe the guys have raised such a significant amount, to say we are over the moon is an understatement. We rely heavily on donations in order to continue the work we do in the CRYP Centre (Centre for Cardiac Risk in Younger Persons) in Tallaght Hospital and a donation as large as this will make a huge difference. We want to thank the Dunboyne Pedal Pushers, the sponsors and all involved in raising the money and thank them also for choosing CRY Ireland as the charity they wish to support. Sudden Adult Death Syndrome affects a high number of people in Ireland each year and therefore it’s vital that we continue to provide free counselling and support for families affected.”
All money raised from the charity cycle will be used to fund the activities of the Centre for Cardiac Risk in Younger Persons (CRYP) in Tallaght Hospital which provides comprehensive cardiac evaluation of those who may be at risk from SADS either because of family history or worrying symptoms.
The service provided at the CRYP Centre in Tallaght Hospital is available to anyone in the country (via GP referral) and is free to the patient. The Centre currently receives no direct Government funding. For more information about CRY see www.cry.ie.
For more information about the Dunboyne Pedal Pushers see https://www.facebook.com/DunboynePedalPushers