THE STAFF at Kinnegar Brewing have raised a colossal €3,500 for Kinnegar Defibrillator and Community DeFib Watch following a recent 24-hour challenge.
The Rathmullan Community DeFib Watch, which looks after the maintenance and upkeep of all the defibs in the Rathmullan community will use the cash injection wisely.
With an original target of €1,000 surpassed before the event even began, Libby Carton, a spokesperson from Kinnegar Brewing said they are bowled over by the level of support they have received.
On Friday, Rachel Carton, Kinnegar’s operations manager, kicked off the 24-hour challenge at 3pm when she cycled from the brewery’s HQ in Ballyraine over back roads to Rathmullan so quickly that she had to do laps of the village to get her to the 5pm baton handover.
Rachel Carton is still smiling after completing her leg of the 24 hour challenge.
She was followed by Angela Gallagher and Dillon McLaughlin who carried the baton walking for two hours in Corvaddy Woods and Queens, New York respectively.
Sean McCarthy took over from 7pm to 9pm, hiking from his home in Falcarragh along the coast to Dunfanaghy.
“There was a rainbow ahead of me pointing to the pints of gold Scraggy Bay in Patsy Dans.
“I didn’t even need that for motivation, it’s just so good to get out and be active in the Donegal landscape,” he said.
Iggy Murray took over the baton from Sean at 9pm, logging a massive circuit through the Rosses at twilight.
She covered ground in Kinncasslagh, Burtonport, Dungloe and Annagry before finishing in the dark at 11pm.
Next up was long-time Kinnegar colleague David Willis, who is now living and working in central London.
In stark contrast to the natural environment through which Iggy ran, David put in an urban shift, passing iconic landmarks like Tower Bridge and the Tate Modern along his route.
David Williams pictured in London following his leg of the 24 hour challenge.
Asterios Arvanitis from Greece and John Brennan from Skerries, both current brewing interns at Kinnegar, mastered the daunting 12am to 2am shift.
They marched through the Friday night lights of Letterkenny and environs, just missing the torrential downpours that dotted the challenge this year before handing over to Felix in Munich.
Felix took responsibility of the graveyard shift from 2am to 4am on Saturday, putting in an energetic running stint through Munich before a 4.30am start to his workday at his new job in the famous Spaten Brewery.
Jack Ledwith, Kinnegar’s packaging manager, took the baton from Felix at 4am and blew the early morning cobwebs away with an impressive two hour circular spin on his bike, catching the sunrise over Lough Foyle and hitting a demonic maximum speed of 73.7km/h as he hurtled downhill through the dawn back to his home in Derry.
Sally Turnball and Eileen Borklan all smiles while taking part in the Kinnegar Community Walk.
Damian McFadden, a new member of the Kinnegar team and a keen photographer, bore the real brunt of the unseasonal weather during his two hour hike out to Horn Head from 6am to 8am.
Damian handed the baton over to Rick LeVert who put in a three hour effort covering a fair chunk of the Fanad peninsula.
It was Dave McDermott’s turn from 11am to 1pm and he put in a two hour cycling circuit from his home base in Churchill, through Glenveagh, including a quick paddle at Gartan for a change of pace.
Libby Carton manned the 1pm to 2pm shift with a mixed walk and swim on Kinnegar Beach.
Then it was over to 84-year old Margaret Carton, Kinnegar’s part-time bookkeeper, to get the Challenge over the line.
“I started at the Mountain Top, came down through the park, and found a grand route through to Whitethorn and safely back to home base at the brewery.” She said.
She crossed the finish line just a few minutes after 3pm, miraculously dry and concluding a magnificent effort from all involved.
Margaret Carton brought the 24 hour challenge to a close on Saturday once she reached home base in Ballyraine.
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