SOME 13 determined women – and one man – have set themselves the challenge to climb seven of the Mourne Mountains to raise money for Cancer Focus NI.

In June, the ladies from Kangoo Club NI will take on the Mourne Seven Summits challenge.

This tough challenge will involve climbing to the summit of all seven peaks in the Mourne Mountains that are 700m or more above sea level.

They are training hard, with help from the Irish Mountain Man, AKA Marty McCarney, climbing Cuilcagh mountain recently while they also took a recent trip to the Mournes to summit Slieve Donard, the highest mountain in the range.

Janice Moohan, one of the 13 women taking part in the challenge, said climbing Slieve Donard really opened the group’s eyes to the challenge that awaits them on June 18.

“We climbed Slieve Donard on Saturday and you know what, it was tough, and that was only one,” she said.

“That’s the start of them – that’s the first one you do, then you come back down and you are away up another one.”

Starting at around 7am, the aim is to summit five mountains before 3pm, or else they will not be able to complete the last two.

Challenge

The women all came together at Kangoo Club for the challenge after being told about it by somebody else who is doing it, and they all agreed it was for a worthy cause.

Janice said: “I said I’d do it, because I knew it was going to a good cause.

“The majority of girls wanted to do it because it’s raising money for Cancer Focus NI, and everything you raise stays in Northern Ireland.

“With Covid-19, charities were running on nothing for a while.”

It makes the pain of going out climbing mountains more bearable for the group, who have their Kangoo classes as well to keep them in shape.

However, there will be no Kangoo boots in the Mournes in June: “We were saying ‘Wouldn’t it be good craic [to wear their Kangoo boots on the challenge]’ but I think you would break your neck!”

After climbing Slieve Donard, Janice says the group are well aware of how tough it is going to be, and it has made them more eager to complete the challenge.

She also paid tribute to the Irish Mountain Man for his help getting them ready so far.

Janice has personal reasons for raising money for the cancer charity, as well.

“The reason I am doing this – both of my grandparents had cancer and died from it. My aunt had bowel cancer and it wasn’t got it in time, and she passed away.

“My mother had cancer, and thankfully it was caught in time. Two years ago, we lost my father-in-law to cancer.

“I’ve experienced it from all angles and different forms of cancers.”

Services

Having seen cancer affecting people so many times, Janice has also seen the services that charities such as Cancer Focus NI provide to patients and their families: “Without funds, they can’t really do that stuff.”

And while it seems like a daunting challenge now, Janice knows those people close to her who had cancer will be another bit of motivation when she is climbing in June.

“All those faces are going through my head, and I have to do it. That’s what keeps me going, and we are all working as a team and we want to keep each other going.”

To donate to the women of Kangoo Club NI and the Irish Mountain Man for their challenge, see their Just Giving page at https://tinyurl.com/34ep5z5b.