A multiple Irish champion on the road at junior and youth level, and having raced in the pros with EvoPro Racing this year, Tom Moriarty has taken on his latest challenge for the victims of the Creeslough explosion in Co Donegal last week.
The 19-year-old, who was Irish junior road race champion in Derry in 2019, is riding 570km, traversing Ireland, to raise money for the Irish Red Cross response to the tragedy in Creeslough. An explosion at a property beside a service station in the Donegal village killed 10 people and left eight others seriously injured.
Moriarty, from Co Kerry, set off today on his epic ride - from Malin Head in Co Donegal to Mizen Head in Co Cork - and will ride the distance continuously in his efforts to raise money. He has launched a GoFundMe page for donations and his target of €500 has already been more than doubled.
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By Wednesday evening some 46 people had donated a combined €1,168 but we're sure stickybottle readers will get behind Moriarty and bump up that total for the people impacted by the tragedy.
One of the women killed, Tina Martin, who worked in the service station shop beside where the explosion occurred, was from a family well known in Donegal cycling circles through their involvement in Four Masters Cycling Club.
"The Creeslough Community Support Fund has been established by the Irish Red Cross in collaboration with An Post and Applegreen to provide rapid and long-term assistance to the Creeslough community," Moriarty said in his GoFundMe campaign message.
"All donations to this fund will be dedicated to the support of those who have been bereaved, injured, made homeless, or left without an income as a result of the tragedy."
