Bressie and Ray take on 'The Rising' journey down the Shannon
By Shane King
Niall Breslin is making final preparations this week ahead of taking on a kayak journey along the River Shannon starting on Friday, June 30th.
Bressie - a former Westmeath footballer and rugby player with Leinster - and his team will embark on a 330km journey from the source to the sea, over seven days, aiming to raise €100,000 for the youth mental health charity, A Lust for Life.
Fellow Mullingar man Ray Carolan of Lakeland Kayaks will join Bressie on the trip.
Beginning their quest in Dowra, County Cavan, the pair will stop along the way to meet young people at Carrick-on-Shannon, Lanesborough, Athlone, Portumna, Banagher, Killaloe, and aim to arrive at St John’s Castle, Limerick on July 6.
During the challenge, Bressie and Ray will cover 40 to 50km a day. They will finish at St John’s Castle to avoid the Shannon Estuary, because of tides and shipping traffic.
At the stops along the way, Bressie will be joining fundraising events hosted by local musicians and mental health advocates.
The funds raised by ‘The Rising’ will contribute to A Lust for Life’s schools mental health programmes. More than 1000 schools have already registered, making the programme available to some 50,000 Irish primary school children.
The programmes are free and the aim is to make them available to every child in primary school by the end of 2024.
The funds will also contribute to the development of a new A Lust for Life secondary schools programme starting with transition year students.
You can follow Bressie and his team as they embark on their week-long journey down Ireland’s longest river on social media by searching for ‘A Lust for Life’.
The lead sponsor of the challenge is SignFit Branding.