Navan man Reddy for ‘bucket list’ Everest challenge

Navan man Dickie Reddy will take on the challenge of a lifetime and fulfill a childhood dream when he climbs to Base Camp Everest next month.

Dickie (60), originally from Kells but now living in Blackcastle is undertaking the challenge to raise funds for Cliona's Foundation.

This weekend, in support of Dickie's fundraising, Dan Glynn Coaching will undertake a 24-hour challenge pushing a weighted sled.

Starting at 12 noon on Saturday, club members and supporters will push a sled carrying 41 kgs, representing the 41 families in Meath that have been helped by Cliona's Foundation, for 24 hours

Before this challenge gets under way, Brendan Ring, founder of Cliona's Foundation will give a talk at 10am about founding the charity after the devastating loss of his 16-year-old daughter Cliona and the work they do. Brendan is an inspirational speaker and all are welcome to come along to the talk, which takes place in Dan Glynn's gym in Navan Pitch and Putt Club.

After the talk, members of Dan's gym along with other supporters will begin the challenge. They will be in teams of six with each team pushing the sled for an hour straight until the next team takes over.

Dickie sets off for Nepal on 19th April.

He says that three years ago he could never have imagined being able to do something like this but now he is busy training and can't wait to undertake the challenge, which he says is “one for the bucket list”.

“It was a childhood dream. I always wanted to do something like this.

“Now it’s an old man's dream,” he laughed.

“I will be 60 going up and 61 coming down. It is goal I have been training hard for and I am really looking forward to it. I am also using it as a tool to promote Cliona's Foundation. I have great time for this charity. It is one a lot of people haven't heard of but is a fabulous charity.

“About three years ago Ruairí Smyth in the gym was doing a fundraiser for Cliona's Foundation, running 7km every half hour and he asked me to run the last seven with him. I was listening to Cliona's father Brendan Ring and I was very impressed with what he was saying and I said if I ever got the chance to do Base Camp Everest, this is the charity I would like to do it for.”

Cliona Foundation provides financial support nationwide to families of seriously sick children to help with the non medical hidden costs of caring for their child and enabling them to be by their bedside, such as accommodation, travel, car parking, food, specialist equipment, childcare etc. It is estimated that it costs an additional €10,000 per annum to care for a sick child and for many of these families one of the parents has to leave work and are therefore operating on a reduced income.

Dickie sets off on 19th April and returns on 6th May.

“I will fly to Kathmandu on 19th April and then on to Lukla airport which is one of the most dangerous airports in the world- you arrive at the bottom of the Himalaya Mountains. It will take us nine days to get to Base Camp. We have to acclimatise and will reach heights of 5,300m so the air will be very thin. We will hike for 6-7 hours a day.”

The group will have two rest days during the nine-day ascent to acclimatise. They will take shelter at night in tea houses along the way.

When they reach Base Camp Everest, they will then do another 11-12 hour hike to Kala Patther which offers world famous views of Mount Everest and they will witness the sunrise over the breathtaking vista. Dickie is part of a group of 12 doing the climb and while he doesn't know them now, he anticipates that he will make friends for life by the end of the trip.

Dickie says he was very unfit up until about three or four years ago when he joined a gym and started training.

“At 56 years of age, this is the last thing I would have thought I would be doing, to think that I would end up eventually preparing to climb to Everest Base Camp.”

He started thinking about doing the climb a year and a half ago but Covid meant he is only getting to do it now.

Dickie has thanked Dan Glynn for organising the fundraiser this weekend and said he is very grateful to all his friends there for their support.

To make a donation see 'Help Dickie fundraise for Cliona's Foundation' on Gofundme.ie