Waterboys hoping for pedal power

Six men are aiming to cycle the 140 miles between Lurgan and Derry in just two days to raise money for cystic fibrosis.

Finbar Keary, Lead Process Engineer at Castor Bay WTW, is one of the team who are calling themselves The Waterboys.

He told the ‘MAIL’: “We’re hoping to do 80 miles on the first day - from Castor Bay, up through Antrim, Larne and Ballycastle. On the second day we’ll head for Coleraine, Limavady then Derry.

“We’re doing quite a lot of training. We try to get out on the bikes a couple of times a week.”

He said there were a couple of tricky passages on the route.

“The continuous head wind on the coast road can be really soul destroying don’t feel you’re going anywhere,” he said.

“And on the first day there’s a six mile climb from Cushendun to Ballycastle.”

He added: “We’re fairly confident we can do it. We did a long run on Sunday - the equivalent of the first day. We’ve done a lot of hill training in the Mournes.”

Finbar, who is from Castlewellan, explained that he and his colleagues, all members of Kelda Water Service Alpha, like to keep active and support charity.

They’ve chosen cystic fibrosis to benefit this particular challenge as one of their co-workers has a son who suffers from the disease.

Finbar is joined by Paul Armstrong, Lead Process Engineer at Ballinrees WTW, Tom Kelly, Water Quality and Process Optimiser, David Smyth, Process Engineer at Moyola WTW, Ian McIlwrath, Process Engineer at Dunore Point WTW and Ciaran Slane Process Engineer at Dunore Point WTW.

Finbar and the team would welcome any support in reaching their target of £5,000.

To donate to The Waterboys go to http://www.justgiving.com/KWSA