Pedal the planet Cycling star rom Ireland awareness evening . Feb 13th 6 pm

Come and join us for an evening of support for the Pedal the planet team.

Live Music, Drink specials, meet and greet the famous man himself. This is your opportunity to have your name or a message engraved on to your personal pint glass.pedal_the_planet_photo

Suicide rates have hit an all time high in Ireland . 554 have taken their lives in 2014

See attached link.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/suicide-rates-hit-an-alltime-high-as-554-take-own-lives-30601624.html

“In 2012, worldwide over 800,000 people took their own lives. This figure was 525 in Ireland alone. That’s more than triple the number of deaths on our roads for the same period and almost nine times the number of murders which took place in the country.

Every day we read about murders and road traffic deaths in the papers, but we fail to talk about one of the biggest killers around. Mental Health! Depression and suicidal thoughts are treatable. Help is available from a variety of sources. We need to let people know that these options exist.

Three years ago, Breifne Early  was able to turn the direction of his life around simply by asking for assistance from my friends, family & colleagues. The support was then, and has been since, absolutely astounding.

He is currently undertaking a huge challenge of cycling 18,000 miles (29,000km) through 25 countries in an attempt to break the current World Record for circumnavigating the globe. The current target is sub 125 days. I am aiming to complete this as an example to people who also find themselves without hope and not seeing a future in their lives

In October 2010, weighing 125kg, unhappy in work, single, depressed and feeling suicidal,  he set ten personal challenges to try and turn my life around in a positive direction. Challenge Ten became the diary of my journey of fifty blind dates, changing careers, learning to cook and swim, losing 20kg, finishing a marathon, cycling around New Zealand, triathlons and open water sea swims and overcoming a fear of public speaking and performing. Pedal The Planet has evolved from that starting list.

Breifna is accompanied on the cycle by a support team of two people (Sara & Louise), their roles include driving the support vehicle, cooking, bike maintenance, filming for the documentary, photography as well as all the crazy things that crop up from time to time. None of the support staff or myself will benefit financially from any funds raised as part of this crowd-funding campaign. All members of the team are providing our time (100+ days) for free.

The complete budget for this project including all three staff is €55,000. This includes bike and camping equipment, flights, ferries and transfers, insurance, communications, visas, immunisations, etc. I have paid €14,000 towards the campaign which represents the cost of my participation in the event. The remaining costs are being raised through a number of sources including this campaign. Any remaining monies will be passed to Cycle Against Suicide to continue the important work.