RICHIE SCALED FOUR PEAKS WITH FITBIT AND STAIRS
A Dundalk man completed the Irish 4 peaks Challenge in the last few days... all from the comfort of his own home!
Richie Clarke, from Greenacres, was, like most of the quarantined these days, looking at ways to fill in his days.
And so he set himself an extraordinary challenge to scale Ireland’s four peaks, by climbing his stairs hundreds of times a day, using his Fitbit to keep track of the distance.
His mammoth challenge has helped raise almost €1,500 for Pieta House.
‘I was trying to find ways to keep myself busy to be honest!’ Richie told the Argus.
He had also been hoping to take part in the Darkness Into Light walk in Dundalk, which has now been postponed.
‘So I decided to take on the peaks challenge to raise money for Pieta House, and I was really delighted with the response.’
Richie set himself the task of climbing his staircase over five days to the combined height of 3,627 metre s!
This takes in Carrauntoohil, Co. Kerry which is Ireland’s highest peak, Mweelrea Mountain in Co. Mayo, Slieve Donard in Co.Down and Lugnaquilla in Co. Wicklow.
‘I had to figure out how to work the distance through ‘floors’ covered on my Fitbit, so about 100 times up the stairs was 51 floors,’ said Richie.
‘In order to complete the challenge I figured out I needed to do 1,900 floors, and that I needed to do as much as possible on the first day as I knew the legs would be feeling it after that.’
Over five days last week he put himself through his paces, and said he was spurred on all the way not only by the goodwill of friends, but the encouraging comments of people who donated through his GoFund me page.
‘It really helped, kept me going all the time.’
He added that he was delighted to use his efforts to raise awareness of mental health issues, and the importance of the work being done by Pieta House.
Mental health is so important and it can affect us all, so I’m delighted I could raise any small amount to help with this wonderful service that helps so many others by trotting up and down my stairs for five days.’
‘It definitely wasn’t easy at times, my legs were shaking after the first day.’ But after working out a system of interval training, by completing a certain amount of floors and then taking a break, he managed to successfully scale the four peaks.
Donations are still open, to support Richie’s challenge, check out ‘Stairs for Pieta’ on GoFund Me’
Pieta House are continuing to provide supports for anyone needing help in the current crisis. Check out www.pieta.ie/ about/coronavirus/
Picture Ken Finegan/Newspics