A team of Waterford athletes aims to skip its way into the Guinness Book of Records and raise €100,000 for cancer care in the process.
The six skippers, most of them ex-international boxers, will be trying to break their own world record, set three years ago when they achieved 244,949 skips in 24 hours in the City Square shopping centre in Waterford.
This time they are aiming for 250,000 skips and the money raised will be used to build a new drop-in centre for the South Eastern Cancer Foundation, to be used by patients, families and carers. The event takes place at City Square on May 24th.
Olympic medallists Michael Carruth and John Treacy, hurling stars DJ Carey and Martin Storey, and boxing coach Nicholas Cruz attended a sponsors' night in Waterford last week to publicise the event and begin the fundraising drive.
The team leader, Jim Payne, said the skippers were "fairly confident" of breaking the record and raising the targeted sum. "We'll take more if we get it," he joked.
Neil Gough, who recently retired from international boxing is the only newcomer to the team, which also includes Martin Murphy, Christy O'Reilly, Larry O'Brien and Billy Brown. The South Eastern Cancer Foundation was founded in 1999 with a number of aims, including the provision of counselling and support for people with cancer, the promotion of awareness of cancer and its preventable causes and the funding of cancer research in the region.
It also supports educational programmes for nursing and medical staff and operates a social fund for patients experiencing financial hardship as a result of their illness. The foundation is leading the high-profile campaign for the provision of a radiotherapy unit for cancer patients in the south-east.