Three Fermanagh men recently climbed the highest peak of each county in Northern Ireland during a weekend of navigation and trekking in aid of Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke.

Richard Dunn from Brookeborough, Stewart Hamilton from Kesh and Gary Beacom from Lisbellaw, joined by two female friends, Elaine Simpson and Roberta McKinney, completed the ‘Step Up Trek’ in 27 hours.

They will hold a fundraising table quiz on Friday, September 30 in The Lady Nelson, Tempo at 8pm in a bid to raise retrospective sponsorship for their epic climb.

Richard Dunn explained: “We liked the sound of the inaugural five peaks challenge in aid of NI Chest, Heart and Stroke so we decided to give it a go. My partner Elaine and I would do some hill walking and we have done fundraising quizzes before. Last year we climbed Croagh Patrick in aid of Muscular Dystrophy Ireland. 

“The challenge was simple, as a team we had to climb to the peak of the highest mountain in each county of Northern Ireland within 40 hours!”
The local team was one of 14 teams completing the trek on September 10 and 11. There was no set route so the Fermanagh team decided to start with Trostan Mountain (550 metres), County Antrim. 

“The ladies completed this mountain in great time which meant we were already in Newcastle, County Down ready to start Slieve Donard (850 metres) before lunch! Donard was tackled by the men, and we defected the beast in two hours and 45 minutes,” said Richard.

The next stop was Slieve Gullion (575 metres), County Armagh, where Stewart joined the girls. They had three out of five mountains completed before darkness fell. 

Next on the list was Sawel (678 metres), one of the Sperrins. That was completed by Gary and Richard under darkness. 

The team slept at Richard’s Lisbellaw home for three hours before driving to Cuilcagh at 6am on Sunday, September 11. 

“Injuries and exhaustion we taking their toll by this stage, but nevertheless Gary and Hammy put in a huge effort to complete the longest mountain of the five in just over two and a half hours!” added Richard.

“All that was left to do then was drive back to Oxford Island near Lurgan to the finishing line where we came fourth in a time of just over 27 hours ... we would have came third if we hadn’t stopped for an ice cream on the way!”
The team were delighted with their performance and will consider doing the challenge next year.

Entrance to the quiz is £5 and all money raised on the night will go to Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke.