Athlete's endurance challenge in memory of Ashling Murphy off to ideal start

An 11-day cycling and mountain climbing challenge which is being undertaken by an endurance athlete in memory of Offaly schoolteacher Ashling Murphy got off to a perfect start yesterday (Wednesday).

Paul Tierney began his '23 Peaks Challenge' to honour Ashling's love of sport and to raise funds for the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund and Children's Grief Centre.

The one-man, unaided, challenge involves him cycling between, and then scaling, 23 of Ireland's highest peaks.

Paul set off from Aisling Murphy's native Blueball yesterday morning, and the challenge is due to end with him cycling the 40km from Athlone back to Blueball on Saturday week, August 19.

Before then, he will be making his way around the country, taking in parts of Wicklow, Carlow, Waterford, Tipperary, Kerry, Galway and Mayo.

In a video update which he recorded in his tent and posted on social media last night, Paul said the first day of the challenge "couldn't have gone better".

It started with him getting "a great send-off from the good people of Blueball, Ashling's family, and the memorial fund committee," and he then cycled 100km to the Wicklow Way, where he scaled the first two peaks, Mullaghcleevaun and Tonelagee.

The weather conditions were mild, with no wind, which meant he was "ahead of schedule, under no pressure, and just having a great time in the mountains."

"It was an amazing day," he said.

People can follow Paul's progress in real time on a live tracking page here.

Donations are also being sought for the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund and the Children's Grief Centre on an iDonate page here, and at the time of writing some €8,500 had been donated by more than 200 individual supporters.

Ashling’s father, Ray Murphy, told the Irish Independent that what Paul is doing is "phenomenal".

"We certainly do appreciate it, it's absolutely phenomenal to see such a large undertaking as this," he said.

The total of 23 peaks was chosen to represent one peak for each year of Ashling Murphy's life.