“Sunrise Up Croagh Patrick” is an annual get-together of friends who climb Croagh Patrick or walk nearby, have a super time & raise funds for worthwhile charities fighting Neurological Diseases. Funds raised go towards providing increased Specialist Care. It was initially organised by John Kelly (St Jarlaths 1979) and supported by his University classmates and work colleagues from Hanson Regan. The event has grown and attracted wider support from many great people who have been affected by Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s, Motor Neuron Disease & Dementia. This year’s event was on the weekend of 29 June 2019 and we had a wonderful couple of days blessed by the weather for our Climb & Walk. We had a post event dinner and we stayed at the Westport Plaza Hotel. They kindly extended a special deal this year €209 for two nights sharing B&B + 1 dinner.

So why not plan ahead for this great weekend in Westport on 27th June 2020 , our 6th annual #SunriseupCroaghPatrick event. You can choose to Climb Croagh Patrick or Walk the Murrisk Loop Walks. Both will start from the Croagh Patrick Visitor Centre c 10am. Form a group of your colleagues and friends, or come on your own and mingle with the whole gang. Enjoy great craic and support very deserving charities. To register your interest in participating on June 27th 2020 please click the tickets tab above or the register button below and we will revert when the full registration opens next year.

Next Event – 27th June 2020 – Please join us for our Sponsored Climb Up Croagh Patrick or Walk nearby to raise much needed funds for Neurological Disease Specialist Care.

Simply click on the Tickets tab above or Register button below to register your interest in participating.

We will upload details of the 2020 itinerary when available. It may change but it is most likely going to follow the outline below.

Hotel:  Weekend deal available at the Westport Plaza Hotel, 2 Nights BnB + 1 Dinner €209 per person sharing, single supplement €35.

Contact details: P  00353 98 55088  ;  Email: yourgroup@westporthotelgroup.ie Web: www.westporthotelgroup.ie

NB, If you wish to stay at other venues remember Westport is a very popular destination so we recommend booking as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Walk & Climb: 9.30am Saturday June 27th 2020 Climbers and Walkers to meet at the Visitors Centre at Croagh Patrick for check in. Please check in & out at the Sunriseupcroaghpatrick desk at the Croagh Patrick Visitors Centre before and after the climb or walk. (Bring some coins for the Car Park).

Climb: When we say climbing, its not vertical, no ropes, no scrambling, with a bit of care, it is within the reach of most people (click the video link here to see what it is like).

Walk: For those who would prefer to walk rather than climb we will also have a 5Km or up to 10Km low level walk near Croagh Patrick.  See the choice of walks on the Murrisk website: http://www.murrisk.ie/T-VillageWalks.html.

To register your interest for the climb or the walk click the register button above.

Dinner: Please join us for dinner at 7.30pm on Saturday night in the Wesport Plaza Hotel. Once you register your interest in participating in the event we will contact you with more details for the final registration.

We are running this event to raise much needed funds for very deserving Neurological Disease Charities. We would be most grateful if you would agree to seek sponsorship from your friends, family and colleagues.

All participants are encouraged to set up an iDonate fundraising page.

For the 2020 we will update the website with the appropriate link a few months in advance of the event and this will include instructions on how to set up a ‘Fundraising Page’. If you would prefer to use a printed sponsorship card we will make those available as well.

Our Charities

Can we say just how important these Associations are. These are the organisations who champion the patients and families of people who contract these neurological conditions. They are in your corner from the moment you get connected. They hold your hand throughout. The difficulty is that they are self funding and need proper help.

None of them have enough specialist nurses to help in the community.

• IMNDA, have over 350 patients in Ireland, with 4 nurses covering the country.
• PDAI have 12-14,000 with 5 nurses
• And HDAI have somewhere in the region of 750 patients, they are not sure, with 3000 people at risk; they don’t have any nurses.

Ireland has 34 Neurologists; it can take 6 months to see one, even if you have the money. On average, it takes over 2 years to get a diagnosis, or it did in our case.

The Associations exist because they are needed, with a bit more help they could do so much more.

Donate

To donate please click the button below. Thanks to all who make the effort to give, many of us think about it but never do. All donations given here go straight to the charities via iDonate who charge handling fee of 5%. You can choose to pay this so the charities receive 100%. Check further details on our chosen charities by clicking the charities tab above. Thank you.

When you click the donate button below you will be taken to our idonate.ie Sunriseupcroaghpatrick Fundraising Team Page. There you will have a number of options on how you can donate.

1. SunriseupCroaghpatrick Fundraising Page – your donation will be split equally across all 3 Charities
2. Donate 100% to Young Parkinson Ireland
3. Donate 100% to Huntington’s Disease Association of Ireland
4. Donate 100% to The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA)
5. Various other members of our Fundraising Team have donation pages you can choose to support.