Dolan taking on Kilimanjaro challenge
26/01/2015
Buncrana-based John P Dolan is taking on the challenge of a lifetime by committing to climb Kilimanjaro later this year.
The 40-year-old has signed up to take part in the Concern trek and has vowed to plough any money raised beyond his €5000 target towards the PGA Benevolent Fund.
“The plan is to fly out to Tanzania on September 15th and get the trek under way a couple of days later,” said Dolan.
“I have to be honest and say that I haven't done anything like this before. The closest I have come to trekking is maybe climbing up and down sand dunes looking for golf balls!
“I've started training and I am already up to seven km a day. In Buncrana there's plenty of hills so on Saturday I take off for three or four hours.
“They say the altitude is the hardest thing to deal with, but I can't really do much training for that around here!”
John has been battling depression for a number of years and admits that he stumbled across the idea of taking part in the trek simply by accident.
“I was looking around for a goal, something positive to do,” he explained.
“I wanted to do something to help me and also to help others. Concern do some great work and I hope to generate enough funds to give something back to The PGA. Peadar McParland (Welfare Officer) has been very good to me and has taken the time to listen.
“We have to learn to listen better in this country. We have to get rid of the stigma surrounding mental health issues.”
You can sponsor John here and keep up to date with John's training regime on Twitter @JohnPDolan1
