Dentist Cormac walking from Clonalvy to Limerick and back for charity

Well known Drogheda dentist Cormac McNamara has undertaken an ambitious cross country walk from Clonalvy to Limerick to raise funds for charity.

Cormac started his 600km trek on Wednesday, May 17th at his children’s school, Clonalvy NS, and will walk from there to his father’s old primary school in Beltra, County Mayo and then on to his own old National School in Monaleen, County Limerick before returning to Clonalvy on Thursday, June 1st.

The money raised will go to Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, Milford Hospice and Clonalvy National School.

He is accompanied on his trek by his Dad who is travelling around with him in a campervan, in which Cormac is sleeping each evening.

Cormac has been preparing for his mammoth trek for a year, starting his training last June.

‘I would have started last summer, doing treks around Dublin, where I have a sister living, and there’s a circuit around Clonalvy that’s 16km,’ he explained.

‘When I started the training 5km would have been the unit I thought of as a goal and now 15km would be my basic unit so each day I do three walks, two 15km ones and then whatever is left of the journey for that day,’ said Cormac.

‘We’ve been lucky so far and the weather has been very good on the whole so far.’

‘I’m doing 51km today from Mullingar to Lanesboro on the Shannon. I usually break it down into three walks a day; two 15km ones and then whatever the last bit of the journey is depending on how many kilometres I’m covering that day.

He decided to do the walk to raise money for Clonalvy NS, the school his own children attend and for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland as a child in the school is a Cystic Fibrosis patient.

Part of the money raised will Milford Hospice, which was a great support when his Mum was terminally ill with cancer some years ago.

Cormac said the idea for the trek came from a project in the school in which the children took turns doing laps around the school and adding up all the miles to see how far it would take them around the country.

‘So it kind of came from that and grew from there,’ he explained, adding he has been lucky to have company along the route for most of his journey with family and friends taking turns to join him on different legs of the walk.

He said his own children are delighted to watch his progress on the walk and the school are able to follow him online with the find friends app.

After completing the mammoth task, Cormac is hoping to arrive back on Thursday, June 1st but he knows this is subject to change depending on the conditions.

If you would like to contribute to Cormac’s cause you can visit his go fund me page ‘ The Walk to School’ or visit his facebook page which is also called ‘ The Walk to School’.