Barry Meehan, second left, climbed the same height as Mount Everest by bike in one day. The well-known Clonmel man is raising funds for two charities; South Tipp Hospice and the Asthma Society of Ireland. Seen here on one of this 23 ascents of two local climbs with the help of friends. Click here to donate to these very worthy causes.
Brian Canty
Irish cyclist Barry Meehan completed an extraordinary feat when he climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest in an 18-hour ride.
The Clonmel man rode the equivalent height of the world’s highest mountain in his home county of Tipperary.
Starting at 5am on Saturday, Meehan knew he needed to crest two climbs - ‘Tickincor’ and ‘Powers the Pot’ - 22 times to reach a height of 8, 848m, or 29,029ft in old money.
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And if that wasn’t enough, he added some more on to be sure; doing ‘one for the road’ for a total elevation of 9,200 metres on the day.
“I’m feeling quite sore now. I finished at 11.15pm having started at 5am so it was quite a long day,” he said.
“I wanted to do a charity cycle of some sort for the South Tipp Hospice and the Asthma Society of Ireland.
When the weather turned nasty and darkness fell, Meehan dug in and got the job done (Photo with thanks to South Tipperary Emergency Services Cycle)
“My dad died a couple of years ago and they were very good so I decided I’d climb Everest in a day.
“The mountains I climbed are ones I look out at every day; Tickinor is one of the biggest climbs in the Sean Kelly Tour and Powers the Pot goes up another 130 metres after that.”
Meehan devised a four-month training plan prior to Saturday's challenge but having fallen ill twice during the period he was unsure how he would perform.
“On something like that you’ve to pace yourself; I lost track of what lap I was on and at one stage my vision went a bit blurry but I came around again,” he said when asked how hard it was.
“I burnt about 11,000 calories in the day, drank eight litres of fluid and though I’d initially planned to stop four times I only stopped twice because it took about 40 minutes to get my legs going again.”
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The local cycling community really rallied around Meehan, whose Titanic effort was all for charity (Photo with thanks to Paul Lafford)
Though he had intended to do it solo, Meehan said he was inspired by the people who rode with him for some ascents while those who supported from the roadside or drove support cars weren’t spared praise either.”
“A lot of people turned out to support, including my wife and kids and that was great," he said.
“In fairness, all the local cyclists were fantastic. I hadn’t asked anyone to come but it was incredible.
“I was only on my own for one lap I think, but there were people standing on the road marshalling, even when the weather really turned nasty.
“It got cold and there was heavy rain and wind at the top, as well as a headwind. But we got there.”
With wife Ciara just after getting off his bike at the end of a day he won't forget too quickly (Photo with thanks to John D Kelly)
The goal of the event, he hopes, is to raise €1 for each of Everest’s metres, so he’s hoping to pull in €8,800.
“We’re about halfway there at the moment and I’ve been blown away by the generosity of people so far.
“I couldn’t get over those people who came out to help me in any way they could.
“It really drove me on when I was getting it rough so hopefully we’ll get to the target sum. That is the only reason I did it.”
Anyone looking to donate can do so by logging into Meehan's mycharity.ie page here
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