Magnificent Mary stays the course...

The last few weeks have been unbelievably busy for the Hamill family of Mullingar. For separate reasons, much media spotlight has shone on sisters, Mary and Ann Hamill - two members of a highly respected family which has been associated with business life in Mullingar for decades.While Ann was unlucky to lose out in the final of RTÉ"s amateur chef competition "Heat" - broadcast on RTÉ the weekend before last - Mary toured eighteen different golf courses across the country in a bid to raise funds for research into the fight against Parkinson"s Disease.A Parkinson"s sufferer for the past thirteen years, Mary is a golf aficionado for a much longer period of time, and has been determined not to let her illness get in the way of her treasured hobby.With that in mind, Mary joined forces with Mullingar"s John O"Reilly to plot a course for an ambitious attempt to play a hole of golf at eighteen different courses in the space of one day.It all sounded pretty far-fetched at first, but after some meticulous planning, a memorable and terrifically successful day of fun and fundraising ensued.'The key to the whole thing was sourcing a helicopter,' Mary explained to Plus. 'We tried a number of business people, but it wasn"t possible for them to help us out at the time.'But earlier this year I was at an outing in Glasson, sitting at a table with a number of businessmen and one of them gave me a telephone number that would hopefully solve my problem.'The number turned out to be a direct line to the Mansfield Group - owned by property tycoon and CityWest Hotel owner, Jim Mansfield - and Mary was given a pledge that if none of the Group"s helicopters were busy on Friday, August 8, then it was all stations go for the golf challenge.'In April we had an appointment with our pilot, Bill Curry to check out the feasibility of the entire project,' said John O"Reilly, the challenge co-ordinator. 'All of it depended on the goodwill of the various golf courses and our schedule had to be very intricately planned to suit them.'To add a professional dimension to the Parkinson"s Foundation Golf Challenge, golf cards were printed, as well as special commemorative jackets and t-shirts made by Irish clothing company, Kartel.After a number of initial fundraising initiatives such as an auction at the 2008 Lord Mayor"s Ball in Dublin, Michael Moore Car Sales (Portarlington and Athlone) and McSharry Machinery Sales (Roscommon) came on board as main sponsors of the event and Mary was joined on the courses by both Michael Moore and Michael McSharry.The golfing party stayed in the CityWest Hotel on the night of August 7, before getting up at 6am on the Friday morning for the first tee-off. 'I remember we suffered from butterflies going to the helicopter for the first time,' Mary said. 'But we got used to it after a while.'By the time they got to the sixth hole in Baltray, over an hour and forty minutes had been lost as RTÉ programme "Nationwide" shot footage of the event, as part of their coverage of the forthcoming opening of the new Neurological Institute at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.CityWest, Druid"s Glen, PGA National, Knightsbrook and Baltray in Leinster, Nurenmore and Slieve Russell in Ulster, and Rosses" Point, Castlebar, Galway Bay and Carrick-on-Shannon in Connacht formed the itinerary before Mary and her party arrived at Longford.'The pilot had to divert to Knock to pick up more fuel because of the strong winds, so we were well behind schedule, and some of the courses we had to rush our way through,' John O"Reilly explained. 'But in some places you got a fantastic reception and you had to stop and shake hands with people.''We got a great welcome in Longford,' Mary said, referring to the twelfth hole of the day. 'People were very kind and generous towards us. The captain of the club even organised a challenge, saying that if anyone could beat him, he would give €100 from his own pocket towards the fund; and if I did myself, it"d be €200.'As it turned out, Mary bested the Longford skipper on a difficult Par 5, earning yet another few pound for her worthy cause.A quick take-off from Longford was followed by another wonderful reception at Roscrea, Co. Tipperary - the first and final venture into Munster, completing the rout of the four provinces. From there, Mary took to the greens at Mount Juliet (Kilkenny), Mount Wolseley (Carlow) and The Heritage (Laois), before arriving at the penultimate course, Tullamore.After a quick Par 3 at the top Offaly venue, the helicopter took off once again, making a grandstand entrance at Mary"s home club in Mullingar shortly after 8.50pm.'We couldn"t believe how many people were out waiting for us when we played the last hole,' Mary said. 'It was wonderful to see so many hundreds of friends and family there to support us, even as it got dark.'With light fading, the helicopter pilot, Bill Curry, took off before Mary played the last hole: a 409 yard Par 5. When she sank the ball with her final putt - remarkably the same ball she had used for all eighteen holes - it brought to an end 14 hours and 35 minutes of air and ground action.A presentation ceremony after the final hole gave Mary, John and their entourage the chance to thank everyone who helped them make the Parkinson"s Foundation Golf Challenge such a success.Foremost among those singled out for special thanks are the Mansfield Group, for providing the helicopter; the pilot, Bill Curry; main sponsors, Michael Moore Car Sales and McSharry Machinery Sales and other sponsors; The CityWest Hotel, Dublin; the eighteen clubs across Ireland who facilitated the challenge - especially Mullingar Golf Club - and the players who took part; and all those who donated money to the fund.Mary and John also paid tribute to Dominic Loughran for providing signs for the event; Colin Watters for his photography; Joe Tone and the staff of the Westmeath Examiner for producing posters, and the national and local media for their interest and support.The popular Mullingar woman played her first game of golf twenty years ago with her father at the renowned Sandy Lane Golf Course in Barbados and has never looked back since. 'We both took up golf then and I have been a member of Mullingar Golf Club ever since,' Mary said.But never before has she experienced such a 'fantastic' and intense day on the greens and fairways.At the moment, the funds raised for research into Parkinson"s Disease stand at over €40,000. 'The money is still coming in thick and fast,' John remarked, 'and we hope to reach the target of €50,000.'And just when you thought those figures were the icing on the cake, John reserved the best until last.'We"re not sure if anything like this has been done before - eighteen holes of golf in eighteen different courses in less than fifteen hours. But we"ve had our preliminary application for a place in the Guinness Book of Records accepted and we hope to hear something more about this in the near future.'But most importantly, Mary hopes that all of this bank breaking and record breaking can lead to a significant breakthrough in the fight against Parkinson"s Disease.