Connacht Tribune
Teachers’ tales of Everest climb will ensure students’ attention
Telling tall tales in the staff room doesn’t usually involve memories of scaling Mount Everest – but two Gort teachers will have plenty of adventures to recount as they return to earth after they scaled the world’s highest summit.
It all began over the Breakfast Club at Gort Community School when PE teacher Aoife Lynskey Keane convinced her fellow fitness fanatic, school SNA Gina Casey, that the only way was up.
BY SIMON FLATLEY
The seed was sown after adventurer Peter O’Connell from Killererin – who also happened to be best friends with Aoife’s brother in law – had given a talk to the school about his Everest summit success from 2013.
Both Gina, from Gort, and Aoife, from Ardrahan, had previously run marathons together, although they knew this would be a different kettle of fish.
To put it in perspective, Ireland’s highest mountain is Carrauntoohil and stands at 1,038m while Base Camp on Everest is over five times that, at 5,364m.
Still, they decided to give it their all, and in the months leading up to the trek, the two south Galway women left no stone unturned in preparation.
Doc Fitness Gym in Kilcolgan became a regular haunt to prepare them, with special emphasis on strength and conditioning.
Then, at the end of March, the two made their way to Katmandu – armed with a few unusual items for Everest adventurers.
Keen camogie player Aoife brought a hurley or two and a few sliotars with her – and about half way to their destination, they passed a town called Namche Bazaar, with some shops for equipment and essentials for climbers, some sherpas with their yaks and what do you know, an Irish Bar!
They went in for a look, got chatting to Evan and donated a hurl all the way from Galway to presumably take pride of place amongst the various county jerseys on the walls.
Aoife Lynskey Keane gets ready to strike from Everest.
On reaching the summit, despite the ordeal, they got a new lease of life and delight in what they had done – but they hadn’t much time to hang around as the weather had deteriorated, with snow storms and freezing cold.
Some special mass cards were delicately placed in respectful spot, with the names of their great friend, former Gort Community Centre Manager Jamesie Lee, Aoife’s mam Mary, Maggie Hynes, Pat Casey, Pateen Fahy and Vincy Lynskey, to name a few.
Of course, Aoife hadn’t brought the hurls and sliotar for nothing – so in her longest ever puck out, she blasted the sliotar through the rarified air, to the delight and wonder of some onlookers.
She also donated to the mountain, a special hurl made by the late Ardrahan hurley maker Paddy O’Dea with the name of her late uncle Vincy Lynskey of Ardrahan on it.
After many photos and with the sounds of a nearby avalanche and a snow storm, they spent just twenty minutes there, and decided to descend the now slippery route in minus 30 degrees of cold.
All through the descent, thoughts rushed through their heads, about the beauty, kindness and humanity of where they were, their achievement and of course getting home safely to their family and community.
The experience for both Gina and Aoife will make them stronger but also reinforce their focus on what’s truly important in life such as love and family.
Aoife and Gina with Mount Everest in the background.
“The thoughts of my husband Alan Keane and children Caoife and Iarla along with my dad and all my family kept me going on an incredible difficult emotional and physical journey and that no matter how high you climb or far you run grief stays with you,” admits Aoife. “Family and your health is the most important thing in the world.”
Now back on terra firma, their thoughts turned to the highlights of a trip that will live with them forever.
The proud Gort teachers showing why their school is Ireland’s fittest.
The first was the obvious success of reaching where they intended – but the other was the joy they saw on the kids’ faces, in such a poor region, when they gave them colouring pencils and a colouring book.
Students and staff in Gort Community School had raised some money for this and had such fun and delight to see a video the two trekkers had recorded of school kids there, giving a Kathmandu chorus of thanks and greeting to the South Galway school.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
