Bóthar founder to walk 60km ‘SIÚL GO DTÍ SEASCA' in one-day to raise sponsorship funds for Rwandan projects
Plan to walk 10k for every one of 6km on average walked daily by people in developing world for water
Co-founder of Irish international aid organisation Bóthar and soon-to-be 60 year-old Peter Ireton is taking on the walk of his life - in aid of those who walk daily for their lives.
The Limerick man, who grew Bóthar from a one-off gesture of sending an airlift of cows to Africa to mark Limerick Treaty 300 celebrations in 1991 to a charity with an €7m annual turnover, will embark on a 60km fund-raising walk along a picturesque, mostly waterside route from Limerick to Killaloe and back on Saturday April 28th.
The mammoth ‘SIÚL GO DTÍ SEASCA' undertaking will see Peter not alone walking one kilometre for every year of his life but 10kms for each of the 6km that, on average, people in the developing world walk each and every day for water for their basic survival.
Pete is asking as many people as possible to sponsor him for the walk as he seeks to raise much needed funds for Bóthar's livestock projects in Rwanda. And if there are any souls brave enough to join him on the 12-14 hour trek and gather sponsorship themselves, they are more than welcome. Alternatively, people can join on any one of five different legs of the walk or.
"We may be experiencing difficult times in Ireland but it's nothing compared to the hardship of people in the developing world and this 60km walk is our way in Bóthar of showing our support for them in their daily quest for survival," he said.
"I don't doubt that a 60km walk in one day is not an easy undertaking but I'm really looking forward to it, not least on my 60th birthday. I would appeal to the general public for sponsorship and for people to even join the walk. As long as 60km is, it is nothing compared to how far we will stretch the money raised from the walk for families in Rwanda.
"Our airlifts of stock makes an incredible contribution to families. They get a gift that keeps on giving as we return each year to put the heifers back in calf. We've seen families there rise from the most abject, life-threatening poverty you could imagine to not alone being self-sufficient in terms of dairy produce within a few years but selling it as well.
"At a light hearted level, I'm making this walk a statement on behalf of the silver haired brigade that you're as old as you feel and that 60 is the new 40!"
SIÚL GO DTÍ SEASCA will be broken up into five different legs on a loop from Limerick to Killaloe, Co. Clare and back. It will commence at UL at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 28th and cross over into Co. Clare via the campus, up onto the banks of the Ardnacrusha Canal and continue along until O'Brien's Bridge. It will then veer into the foothills of Slieve Bearnagh, overlooking Killaloe and down into the village itself before continue back along a similar route to Limerick.
"We already have a large number of people committed, including a number of high profile people drawn from the Limerick region. We are hoping to raise a healthy six figure sum but, more than anything, need the support of the Limerick, Clare and Tipperary public to do this.
"It's a wonderful, healthy way to show support for people in one of the most impoverished nations in the world. We will also get the chance to celebrate the amazing scenery and walking amenities we have here on our doorstep in this region," added Peter.