Five Dundalk men preparing to 'Conquer the Hills for HUGG'

Five men from Dundalk are getting ready to undertake a 48 hour hiking/marathon challenge to raise funds for suicide bereavement charity HUGG and are looking for support from the public.

Ciaran Sheridan, Shaun Watters, Lorcan Fisher, Shane Murphy and Stephen O'Neill started organising hiking day trips last year for men of all ages called “Walk n Talk”, to help improve both mental and physical health. The five decided to undertake a 48 hour hiking/marathon challenge at the end of April this year, to raise funds for HUGG, a charity that specialises in providing support to families who have been bereaved through suicide. All funds raised will go directly to the charity.

The plan is to climb the highest peaks in all four provinces of Ireland in the first 24 hours; Lugnaquilla (Leinster), Carrauntoohill (Munster), Mweelrea (Connacht) and Slieve Donard (Ulster), then on the second day to undertake a marathon distance run back in Dundalk.

Shaun Watters shared with the Dundalk Democrat, some of the background to Walk n Talk, along with details on how preparations for April's challenge are progressing.

Shaun said that the idea for the day trips came about as things returned to normality after the pandemic. He explained, “we were thinking of ways we could bring our social circle back together but also help to improve peoples mental and physical health which had no doubt suffered as a result of Covid.

^{Above: One of last year's Walk n Talk events}

“It's no lie that we like a wee pint of a Sunday afternoon so we thought, why not start the day off with a walk and maybe we could get a few more of the lads out as well. And look if you don't fancy the walk, we'll still see you in the pub, or if you don't fancy the pint then you're more than welcome on the walk beforehand and head on home. It gives everyone the option of the best of both worlds”, he added, “and it grew legs from there.”

Shaun continued: “We had a great response to last years events, we started out with a group of three to four men and eventually grew to groups of over 20 during the summer months. We had men of all ages from early teens through to their late sixties.

“We stayed local last year, mostly around Carlingford and the Cooley Peninsula (Slieve Foy, Barnevave, The Lumpers etc). “It was all done through word of mouth and our personal social media pages. “This year we have set up an Instagram page "@hills4hugg" for both our April challenge and the open Walk n Talk events we are planning throughout 2024.”

Setting a challenge for themselves this year, the five decided to do something to raise awareness and funds for an issue that they all have experienced directly or indirectly, the link between mens mental health and suicide.

Shaun explained, “HUGG is a fantastic charity who help families who have been bereaved through suicide.
“Our hope is that we can raise much needed funds to help in their mission while also helping to break the stigma around men's mental health by encouraging physical and mental exercise - Walk n Talk.”

Preparations for the mammoth challenge began back in January. “We started a training routine in early January that was put together by Ciaran and Lorcan, both of whom have a lot of experience in fitness/training”, Shaun revealed. 

“It's a combination of gym and outdoor cardio and weight training, anchored by weekly hikes, mostly in the Mournes at present, but we will be doing a trial run in each province before the challenge itself, we plan to travel to Wicklow, Kerry and Mayo at least once over the coming months.

“The first 24 hours of the challenge will roughly involve 12 hours of hiking, equating to over 41km, and 12 hours of driving around 1,000km. We hope to start in Wicklow about 9pm on the Friday, then travel to Kerry, then to Mayo and finally onto County Down to finish on Slieve Donard by 9pm on Saturday. Then we have the small matter of the marathon in Dundalk the following day.”

Shaun adds that “the four peaks challenge is not an open event, and is limited to the immediate team, but the marathon on Sunday April 28 we would like to invite as many people as possible to join us. We will break it into blocks of five or 10 km at a time, so people can get involved at different intervals if they like. Details will be shared on our social media in the coming weeks.”

While fitness and training is mainly a hobby for the five, Shaun adds that, “its mostly just a hobby, but Ciaran and Lorcan both have a lot of experience in fitness/training having competed in multiple events over the years.

“For anyone looking to improve their fitness, or to get involved in our walk n talk events please don't hesitate to reach out via our Instagram page, @hills4hugg.”

The group add that they would like to thank everyone for the donations that have been made so far, and encourage anyone to reach out if they would like more info. Find out more about HUGG at www.hugg.ie.

To follow the lads progress as they prepare for this year's event, see their instagram page: www.instagram.com/hills4hugg
They also have a donation page on idonate, where all donations are gladly welcomed: www.idonate.ie/fundraiser
/hills4huggs.

_{Below: Donation QR}