Flash mob planned for Carrauntuohil
HISTORY will be made on Ireland's loftiest peal when a charity flash mob gathers on top of Carrauntoohil to raise funds for Childaid, the organisation that raises money to help some of the world's poorest children.
Organiser John Lenihan is hoping to get between two and three hundred people to scale Carrauntoohil's summit on Saturday, March 3, arriving practically in unison, the first time that the feat will have been achieved.
Participants are asked to meet at Cronin's Yard at 8am on the morning of the event. Pods of 25 trekkers, led by two guides per pod will depart at intervals and climb via O'shea's Gully and The Ladder, with all climbers en route to the summit by 10.30am. The flashmob will be complete by1.45pm with dispersal timed for 2pm. At the top of the peak, the flash mob will all join in a rendition of The Carpenters' hit song Top of the World. All persons taking part must accept their own liability and make their personal judgement regarding their own ability to clim Carrauntoohil.
All monies raised go to Childaid projects in Kenya and Tanzania, where John witnessed devastating poverty on a 2010 trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
"I've seen some disturbing things in my life but the slums in Makuru and the Kwa Njenja School Project that Childaid run hit a massive nerve," John Lenihan told The Kerryman. John, a Corkman, is a member of the Blisters Hillwalking Group, which counts in its membership a number of Kerry natives Una Reidy, Knocknagoshel, Denise Brassil, Tralee, and Tony Mcloughlin, also from Tralee, amongst others. Also joining the flash mob will be members of Killarney Hillwalkers and he Laune Hillwalkers.
John Lenihan and co-organiser, John Mulcahy, raised funds for Childaid by climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland and next year are bound for Everest Base Camp. Contact Childaid on (021) 4222985 or John Lenihan on (087) 6137300 for full details.
- BRENDAN MCCARTHY
