Portlaoise students to climb Kilimanjaro for meningitis research

PORTLAOISE students Darragh Savage and Peter Naughton (both 22) will traverse the montane forests of Mount Kilimanjaro, the famous dormant volcano in Tanzania, in aid of the Meningitis Research Foundation.

Darragh and Peter are both students in the University of Limerick (UL); Darragh studies woodwork and tech graphics, while Peter studies architecture.

They discovered the opportunity to climb Africa’s highest mountain through Choose a Challenge, an organisation that raises money for charities by facilitating fundraising trips to adventurous locations.

“It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing”, says Peter. “If you're going to try to do it when you're out of college, it costs so much. It is good to do it through Choose a Challenge, you're raising money for charity and you're getting money off the price”.

The charity linked to the Kilimanjaro climb is the Meningitis Research Foundation, which aims to fund research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of meningitis and associated infections.

Although the charity was already linked to this particular challenge, for both Darragh and Peter there is also a personal element to their selection.

“When I was in college, at the very start of first year, a girl in my course passed away from meningitis in the first week”, says Peter.

“A girl I was working with actually got meningitis as well while we were fundraising,” adds Darragh.

Peter notes that, although the charity is selected for you, the pair are both “happy to raise money” for meningitis awareness.

To prepare, Darragh and Peter have been hiking regularly, using notable Irish trails such as Galtymore and Lugnaquilla as their training grounds: “The two of us went off to Carrauntoohil a couple of weeks back, and we're planning to go again somewhere for another hike”, says Darragh, adding that they are “just doing as much as [they] can” in advance of the trip.

Each challenge is assigned leaders who organise group preparation hikes, which take place over the summer months in advance of the trip. Darragh and Peter will be in Canada at this time. However, “there'll be plenty of mountains to be doing over there as well”, says Peter.

The hike itself will take place from the 20-29 August. “Because of the altitude”, explains Darragh, “you have to go up a certain height, then you set up camp and walk around for the day.” There are four climate zones on Kilimanjaro, each with its own temperature, flora and fauna. “You go up and down to acclimatise”, adds Peter, meaning the entire hike will take nine-to-ten days.

Darragh and Peter are both excited to see the sights and explore the culture of Tanzania with other students before the climb. They will join approximately 20 other students from UL on the trip, as well as students from University of Galway, Trinity College Dublin, and University College Dublin. Darragh estimates that there may be 80-100 students in their hiking group come August.

“My ma thinks I'm mental for doing it”, jokes Darragh. “I think my dad is a bit more encouraging than my mother”, says Peter, adding that both his parents are happy he’s doing a challenge like this and “raising money for charity in the process”.

Money can be donated to Darragh and Peter through their Just Giving pages. Darragh's page is available to view here.

Peter's page is available to view here.