Pietà

iDonate Everest for Pieta

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• published: 01 Mar 2013
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Peter is a 29 year old man from Killererin, Tuam, Co. Galway and plans to embark on an expedition to climb the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest (8848m) in April 2013. This entire expedition is self-funded and all funds raised will go directly to Pieta House West. Peter is an avid mountaineer and has travelled the world climbing mountains in preparation for this trip. He recently summited Manaslu, in the Himalayas, Nepal; the 8th highest mountain in the world at 8163m. He has been to Aconcagua in the Andes, Mont Blanc in the Alps and many other mountain ranges over the past number of years. To get the chance to climb Mount Everest means the world to him. He always thought it was just a dream and that only superstar mountaineers could go to Everest, but he put his mind to achieving this goal in 2011 and have been working hard since to achieve it. He believes if someone else can do it then so can he, and if you put your mind to something you desire, no matter what it is, if you want it enough, it can be achieved. If Peter is successful he will join an elite group of 33 Irish people who have reached the summit of Mount Everest to date. Peter notes however that he could never have got this far alone and says he is blessed to have a phenomenal family and friends that have supported him all the way on this rollercoaster journey. The expedition is 100% funded by O'Connell Construction (www.occo.ie) and Peter himself, and would like to use this opportunity to fundraise for Pieta House West and grow awareness for suicide prevention. All monies raised by Peter will go directly to Pieta House West. Peter's Training Peter has been in specific hard training for this for the past 14 months. The main base for his training was based on endurance events such as long distance running, open water swimming and long days on the mountains with weighted backpack. The first was the Connemarathon, a 26.2 mile run in Connemara, his first marathon. This went well and he really enjoyed the training for it and the event itself. He completed three more marathons in 2012, the limerick city marathon, the Burren marathon and the Portumna ultra marathon. Peter was swimming during the winter months of 2011/2012 to keep fit, and in the spring of 2012 he set his sights on completing the Galway Bay Swim, a 13km swim from Clare to Galway, finishing at Blackrock. The Swim took place on a stormy Saturday afternoon in July 2012 and took almost 5 hours to complete! From May 2012 he knew from meeting previous Everest Summiters Mark Quinn 2011 and Cian O'Brolchain 2012, that specific gym work was required. This involved a lot of core strengthening exercises, lots and lots of weighted squats to give more power and flexibility to the legs and upper body strengthening. This is all coordinated with running and swimming regularly. Every Saturday has been spent on the mountains in Connemara, the Mournes, and almost every mountain range in Ireland! A typical day on the mountains would be 8 hours, covering 7-8 mountains, with a backpack of 22kg. Pieta House West Pieta House is a non-profit organisation that provides a free, specialised treatment programme for people who have suicidal thoughts or engage in self-harming. They have centres in Lucan, Tallaght, Ballyfermot and Finglas in Dublin, as well as Limerick. Pieta House' vision is to provide suicide and self-harm support services within 100 kilometres of everyone in Ireland and this vision will reach closer to reality in 2013 when a new centre is opened in Tuam, Co. Galway. In 2012, more than 3,000 people came to Pieta House for help and the numbers contacting Pieta House are rising all the time. 90% of their income comes from fundraising events, therefore they rely heavily on the support and encouragement of their volunteers and the friends of Pieta House. Irish Everest Event On Friday 1st March and Saturday 2nd March Peter will climb his Irish Everest which will entail climbing Croagh Patrick 12 times, equivalent to the height of Mount Everest. Secondary schools all over Connacht and Donegal have been contacted to get involved in the family fun day on Saturday 2nd March and help Peter complete this challenge. Everyone, young and old, is encouraged to come along anytime over these two days to climb Croagh Patrick and in turn help raise awareness for Pieta House West and Suicide Prevention. Donations can be made online at http://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/9332_peter-o-connell-everest-for-pieta-2013.html More information is available on: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/Peteroconnelleverestforpieta http://www.occo.ie/pieta-house-2013.asp