'Mad Dogs' to embark on Mizen to Malin Challenge for Donegal Down Syndrome

A group of cyclists from around the Letterkenny area will prove why exactly they're called the Mad Dogs over the next three days.

The 22 friends will today saddle up and begin an adventure which will take them from one end of Ireland to the other.

And they will undertake the Mizen to Malin Challenge for a very good cause - to raise as money as possible for the Donegal Down Syndrome Association.

There's plenty of well-known names in the bunch including Liam Doherty, Colm Richardson, Marty Temple, Kevin Holian and Denis Shiels.

The lads left their Letterkenny base at LK Bikes at 4am this morning and headed to Mizen where they will begin the first leg of their journey at 2pm today.

They will cycle approximately 100 kms on the first day and rest up overnight before attempting to do a further 300 kms on Friday and resting up in Ballinamore in Co Leitrim.

Saturday will see another 180kms which will hopefully take all the group across the line in Malin Head around 3pm.

This is the second time to attempt the Mizen to Malin Head challenge for many of the group after they raised a staggering €40,000 three years ago for both Temple Street Children's Hospital and Crumlin Children's Hospital.

With some of the group having connections to the Donegal Down Syndrome Association, the charity seemed as good a one as any and this is the charity which will benefit from every cent raised by the lads this year.

The full group taking part in the cycle is Gavin Hunter, Mark Hunter, Shane Holian, Kevin Holian, Troy Hegarty, Brian O'Donnell, Denis Shiels, Liam Doherty, Lee Haughey, Liam McCleary, Martin Jordan, Michael Jordan, Paul Fegan, Colm Richardson, Martin Temple, Damien Gallagher, Damien McElhinney, Darren McGlinchey, Don Brennan as well as their three crew members Fergus Callaghan, Warren Black and James Frain.

There'll be lots of interest to see how the lads are doing along the way and the good news is their progress can be followed over the three days on this link https://live.primaltracking.com/maddogs24/

You can donate as little or as much as you want and it can it's as simple as clicking on this link:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mad-dogs-m2m-for-donegal-down-syndrome?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

Of course the name of the game isn't just about tight cycling shorts and selfies in the saddle, the lads want to raise as money much as possible for this very worthy cause.