Laois army men play their part in gruelling charity challenge in the Lebanon

Since November, members of the Irish army have raised almost €30,000 for both Irish and Lebanese charities.

The latest event included four Laois men – Comdt Shane Conlon from Mountmellick, CS Ian Martin from Errill, Cpl Johnny Finane from Ballacolla and Cpl Jamie Friel from Portarlington.

This event included a Snake Hill Everest challenge which had one team of six completing a trail marathon covering 37 laps of a 1.1km hill climb.

On completion the team of six had also climbed the height of Mt Everest, 8848metres.

Five other teams of 23 all completed a minimum of 10km of the same loop which also climbed the height of Mt Everest. A total of 121 members took part in the Snake Hill Challenge.

The second part of the Challenge was a 25km/40km loaded march carrying a minimum of 10kg. A total of 110 members took part in the loaded march.

The goal of both events was to complete the height of Everest 6 times, however through great determination a total distance of 4879km and combined height climb of 80000m was achieved which brought the number of Everest’s climbed to 9.

The Charity weekend has so far raised almost €15,000 for three specific charities, Cork Arc Cancer Support, Millford Hospice in Limerick and Waterford Hospice and the go fund me page will remain open until June 21.

There are 300 Irish troops serving with the peacekeeping battalion.

They were supposed to come home in May, However the UN decided to extend their tour of duty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They are now due to return home in late June.

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source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2020/06/12/laois-army-men-play-their-part-in-gruelling-charity-challenge-in-the-lebanon/