Aghagower man conquers Kilimanjaro for meningitis research

A MOUNTAIN climb three years in the making has seen an Aghagower man raise over €4,000 for meningitis research.

Seán McGuire originally signed up to climb Kilimanjaro in 2020 while completing his fourth year in NUI Galway. However due to Covid-19 and travel restrictions it had to be deferred several times.

However, last month he finally made it to the top of Africa’s tallest mountain, raising over €4,000 for The Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF).

“From speaking to people over the last three years I hadn’t realised how many people are either directly or indirectly affected by meningitis, so this really made me appreciate the MRF’s aim to defeat meningitis by 2030,” Seán told The Mayo News.

Having completed the inaugural Westport marathon earlier this year. Seán trained for the ascent by hiking and climbing at various locations around Ireland and Scotland.

That did not prevent his journey up Kilimanjaro from being ‘one of the toughest experiences’ of his life.

“Day four and day five was by far the toughest,” recalled Seán, who began this leg 3,900 metres up in the sky.

“We hiked for hours to a base camp called Barafu Camp at 4,673 metres at this stage we were all feeling fatigue from the long days of hiking, tiredness, and altitude. Some people were feeling very unwell from the altitude sickness with most of us taking medication to counteract its effects on the body.”

Temperatures below -20 Celsius awaited as they began summiting Kilimanjaro during the night.

With two hours sleep and ‘seven or eight layers on top and three on my legs’, Seán and his colleagues slowly began the final eight-hour long leg of the climb.

Throughout the summit night the Kilimanjaro guides sang Tanzanian songs to keep their spirits high.

Frequently, they shouted the Swahili words ‘pole pole’ meaning ‘slow down and keep slowing down’ to prevent the onset of altitude sickness.

“We reached Stellar Point with the summit in sight at 7am,” recalled Seán.

“At this stage the sun had begun to rise behind us and light up the African clouds surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro in an orange glow that lifted everyone’s spirits. An hour later we made it to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro at an elevation of 5,895 metres.”

A feeling of overwhelming delight came over them as they conquered the Mother Continent’s highest peak.

“Emotions filled everyone’s faces with smiles and hugs and congrats…including the guides, even though they have climbed this mountain hundreds of times each, they too were congratulating one another. We were on the Roof of Africa,” said Seán.

“Having fundraised over €4,000 towards MRF I was delighted to have been able to reach the summit of the mountain for all the people who donated towards this challenge over the last three years.”

You can still donate to the Meningitis Research Foundation this link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/seanmcguire?fbclid=PAAabQKFr25KawYpRETfFjL20agONYN0nTJ2KX1moZsL0-CUTTmuD6ApIyzJo