A Bit About Me.

My name is Eugene O’Leary and I live in Howth, Co. Dublin. I was born and reared in Whitegate, Co. Cork. I was 78 years old on 9th. January 2021. I have been fundraising for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin since the death of our daughter Helen in 2002. I have taken part in the hospital’s 500k overseas cycle challenges in Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa; around Lake Balaton, Hungary; in Riccioni and San Marino, Italy; Monterey, California; Flagstaff, Arizona; Athens, Georgia and Niagara, Ontario. I also did a couple of solo overseas cycles. I cycled from Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland to Haparanda, Sweden and down the coast of Finland to Helsinki. I then cycled from Faro to Evora in Portugal, before carrying on across Spain to Pamplona and over the Pyrenees to Bergerac in France. During the following year, I cycled the Camino De Santiago across the north of Spain from Logroño to Santiago de Compostela. Here at home, I cycled with a group of friends from Howth Head to Malin Head to Mizen Head and I did a solo cycle a year later from Malin Head to Mizen Head, before cycling from Galway Docks to Howth Harbour (Atlantic to Irish Sea) in exactly twelve hours. Over the past number of years, I have changed to doing long walks. I walked the Portuguese Camino twice and the Camino from Santiago de Compostela to Muxia and Cape Finisterre on four occasions. Here at home, I have done something different, by pushing a baby’s buggy from Slyne Head to Howth Head and again from the Atlantic to the Irish Sea (Galway Docks to Howth Harbour), before doing buggy pushes from Dublin to Cork and from the Hill of Slane to the Hill of Howth and many shorter ones. The purpose of the buggy is to carry my camping gear, clothes etc. and to be festooned with my fundraising posters! I have lost count at this stage, but know that my fundraising efforts for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin have raised well over €150,000 That brings me to this year and the Covid-19 Lockdowns. I had booked flights to Northern Spain to do another Camino, but the flights were cancelled, so I firstly had to cocoon (I was 78 in January). Then I was confined like everyone else to within a 5k radius of home. At first, I considered it to be a disaster, but it has actually turned out to be quite the opposite! I used Google Maps and my iPhone’s GPS to get a 5k distance from home and stay within the guidelines. I found that the distance from home to Baldoyle Church was exactly 5k, so to there and back would be 10k. From that came the idea of pushing the baby’s buggy for 1,000k in 100 days. I did it and raised another €7,300 for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin along the road. That brings me to the present six week or 42 day lockdown and the bit for which I would really appreciate a bit of publicity. Please pass the word along. I found that I could do a virtual buggy push for the 382 miles from Malin Head to Mizen Head by pushing the buggy for 9 miles each day, while staying within the 5k radius of home. I registered for the virtual buggy push and my daily route maps, together with a map of my virtual progress can be viewed or accessed from my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ Crumlinkids Email: eugeneoleary8@gmail.com Phone: 086 8463741 My fundraising page, which was set up for me by the Children’s Medical & Research Foundation of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin can be viewed at: www.justgiving.com/campaign/themanwiththepram Facebook: www.facebook.com/Crumlinkids