Down Syndrome Ireland Announced As The Beneficiary Of Tour de Munster 2011 For The Second Time In A Row!

04 April 2011

After raising a staggering €250,000 last year for Down Syndrome Ireland (DSI), Tour de Munster, an annual four day charity cycle which sees amateur cyclists cycling over 600km around the six counties of Munster, has once again announced Down Syndrome Ireland (Munster branches) as its chosen beneficiary of this year’s cycle which takes place from Thursday 11th to Sunday 14th August 2011.

This good news also coincides with Down Syndrome Irelands 40th Anniversary and Fundraiser Michael O’Gorman, who has a son David with Down Syndrome , is delighted to be chosen again this year.

Michael states "Last year was amazing and we couldn’t have expected more from this great fundraising event. We feel honored to have been selected twice as it shows Tour de Munster care just as much about the charity as we do. We have been around for 40 years and even though we have achieved so much in the charity, it’s great to get outside support from others."

Michael goes on to state: "Our goal in DSI is to assist children born with Down Syndrome to be as independent as possible. To achieve this it is imperative that when they are young they have access to speech therapy and occupational therapy and as they grow older we want to help them with other areas of their lives such as independent living and employment opportunities. The objective is to ensure that each individual is developed to his/her full potential and to help people with Down Syndrome make their own futures as bright and independent as possible. This all takes funds and through the great work of the Tour de Munster cyclists more young people with Down Syndrome will be helped in a practical way."

Tour de Munster organiser Paul Sheridan is already fully under way in his training and is looking forward to the event. Paul states "We talk about people with 'special needs'. But in DSI we've found people with very special abilities: The ability to make us feel very special by supporting them and helping to raise funds for vital therapy and training. We're privileged to be working with Down Syndrome Ireland again this year and with the help of the great people of Munster we are very hopeful that we'll honour the hope which these people have placed in all of us."

Paul also thanks everyone who has got behind Tour de Munster: "We are very grateful to the many companies who've already got behind the Tour with generous donations - all of which go to DSI Munster Branches.We are now relying on public support and hope for a repeat of the incredible generosity we saw last year.The DSI slogan is "share the journey" and we hope that our Tour will see a lot of supporters do just that bothdirectly and indirectly. The DSI logo shows "helping hands" and we all have a chance to give a helping hand through the Tour's fundraising effort. If everyone helps a little then it will help quite a lot."

Media partners for this year’s event are the Irish Examiner, Red  FM,  Spin South West, Clare FM, Tipp FM and WLR FM. This year’s Tour de Munster begins on August 11th and continues over four days until August 14th.

For up to date information and developments on the Tour please log onto www.tourdemunster.ie or you can follow the Tour on twitter @tourdemunster.  For further information on Down Syndrome Ireland please see www.downsyndrome.ie