Offaly garda rows to new heights in aid of children's charity

A member of An Garda Siochana has completed a fundraising mission to climb to the top of Carruantoohil carrying a 26kg rowing machine while raising almost € 40,000 for a children's charity.

Ken McDonald, a Garda instructor in Templemore, who has moved back to frontline policing in Birr for the pandemic, was raising money for the Share a Dream foundation for sick children in Limerick.

Garda McDonald carried a 26kg rowing machine up the mountain in aid of the foundation and then rowed 10km at the summit. He will now carry the machine back down. Over the past year, he has been helping to build a new Garda station at the foundation where children could role play and act out the job of a garda in a safe environment.

The Garda had set out to initially raise € 25,000 for the children's charity. However, according to his idonate.ie page at the time of going to print, a total of € 36,971 had been raised.

Meanwhile, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, who climbed with Ken McDonald on August 8 last, attended the facility to open the station last October where he presented medals and certificates to children, who have battled illness for years. The premises suffered two separate break-ins and was burgled in recent times before the opening of the garda station. Tens of thousands of euro worth of damage was caused to the facility.

Following this, Garda McDonald took the step to raise funds, and so embarked on his recent endeavour. He is also a former international rower with 11 senior national championships to his name as well as five world championship gold medals, two world records and four national records in rowing.