Comeragh Survival Challenge in aid of Mercy University Hospital Foundation

concussion

Hi guys,
in September I'll be taking part in the Comeragh Suvival Challenge in order to raise money for the Mercy Hospital Foundation in Cork. This charity was established in 2007 to help provide more equipment and services to the hospital. At present they are hoping to raise €50,000 to replace their 20 year old life support machines and so are running the Comeragh Survival Challege.

This event will be held over three days in the Comeragh Mountains and will involve survival training followed by a 2 day survival challenge for teams of two which will see them navigating over 50 kms, building overnight shelters and locating food caches. I need to raise €650 and Makikomi has graciously allowed me ask for sponsorship here. Any and all donations will be gratefully received, even a few euro will make a big difference. More information can be found at the Mercy Hospital foundation website here
http://www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie/

and details of the challenge can be found here:
http://www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie/survival/index.php

I'd also like to note that this has absolutely nothing to do with boards.ie and is a personal request to help support a registered charity.

Anybody wishing to donate can contact me via pm,

thanks very much,
Gavin.

(and yes, this is happening the weekend after the Mourne Mountain Challenge :eek::pac: )

djtechnics1210

I'll give ya a few quid no problem bud, its a great cause.
send me details of how to sponsor you.

concussion

Only 9 days to go and I'd like to thank everyone on Boards who sponsored me - you were a great help and the charity will definately appreciate your generosity. I'll be sending off the contributions next week so if there's anyone here who still wishes to donate, let me know.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how I get on :eek:

iceage

We'll be thinking of you. (Cold beer in one hand, TV remote in the other!)

iceage

concussion wrote: »

Hi guys,
in September I'll be taking part in the Comeragh Suvival Challenge in order to raise money for the Mercy Hospital Foundation in Cork. This charity was established in 2007 to help provide more equipment and services to the hospital. At present they are hoping to raise €50,000 to replace their 20 year old life support machines and so are running the Comeragh Survival Challege.

This event will be held over three days in the Comeragh Mountains and will involve survival training followed by a 2 day survival challenge for teams of two which will see them navigating over 50 kms, building overnight shelters and locating food caches. I need to raise €650 and Makikomi has graciously allowed me ask for sponsorship here. Any and all donations will be gratefully received, even a few euro will make a big difference. More information can be found at the Mercy Hospital foundation website here
http://www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie/

and details of the challenge can be found here:
http://www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie/survival/index.php

I'd also like to note that this has absolutely nothing to do with boards.ie and is a personal request to help support a registered charity.

Anybody wishing to donate can contact me via pm,

thanks very much,
Gavin.

(and yes, this is happening the weekend after the Mourne Mountain Challenge :eek::pac: )

Well, how did it go Concussion? Tell us all about it.

concussion

It was great craic. Hard going too. Apologies about the delay, I've had a rake of work to catch up on this week. Summary to follow later this evening.

concussion

Right - here it is, finally.

Friday was an excellent day, hot with blazing sunshine and enough to make me curse my decision to leave the sunscreen behind!! I was one of the first to turn up but sure enough the next two in the gate were Reservists from the Cork AD Bty! Soon after that a fella they knew came over - he was another Reservist and his partner had dropped out a few days before so we agreed to team up. We spent a while chatting with the other teams and soon enough we started out with the usual registration and welcome chat. Total numbers were about 45, with the DF well represented with 4 RDF NCO's, 2 PDF Ptes and 2 PDF Officers. Funnily enough, for once it was the PDF and not us Reserves who were in uniform for the whole weekend

When the admin was done we started into our training classes. Obviously there wouldn't be enough time to go over everything in detail but we had about an hour on each subject, rotating through Fire, Navigation, Shelter Building and First Aid. We also had a full kit inspection to ensure everyone would have enough to keep them comfortable and safe on the hills for the two days. There was a fair bit of banter at this stage between the organisers and two PDF Inf lads over the amount they had and the size of their rucksacks!

The class on fire building was excellent, going over the basics of tinder, fuel, proper construction etc. We practiced lighting different types of tinder with a firesteel - cotton wool smeared with vaseline was a definate favourite with strips of bicycle tube a close second (highly unlikely to light off a spark but will burn when wet if a flame is applied)

The day finished up around 7 pm and we had a good dinner and fantastic dessert in the community hall before picking our spot on the floor and laying out our bags. After that, in best RDF tradition we hit the pub first with the firm intention of having one or two.:o This of course ended up in a serious amount of drinking and in even better RDF tradition we were last out of there. Reveille wasn't till 0700 anyway! :pac:

The next morning people were up and getting ready waaay too early (0600 alarms!) and were were pretty much sitting on our packs when the staff came in dish out the brekkie. While this was happening we were given our first challenge - an orienteering event through a Coillte forest, with each team being dropped off in various places. Once out of the bus we figured out our loc right away and all went well for about 5 mins. At the second junction there should have been two roads branching off in a V, but the reality on the ground was different. Much different. Taking a quick bearing we established that the road we needed actually existed but soon after that things got a lot more difficult. Suffice it to say that a straightforward nav ex becomes VERY complicated when the control points aren't numbered and the map and ground bear only a vague resemblance to each other. The day was saved by lots of swearing and some careful pacing but damn you Coillte, damn you to the deepest pits of hell!

Four and a half hours and 19 km later we made it to the last check point for sandwiches and lots of cold, refreshing water. To our considerable surprise, although a number of other teams were aready in, we were the first team in with 10/10 control points. Happy days indeed. Next up was a 6 km hike over Shauneenbreaga. The mist came down about 30 mins in and reduced visibility to about 50 m, cruelly teasing us by revealing more of the mountain as we cleared each ridge. We pressed on as fast as our packs would allow us, looking to push ourselves as much as possible (and catch the officers who had left about 20 mins before us) At about 600 metres we stopped for a quick abseil and soon after that we passed over the summit and down into the col where there was another checkpoint. For additional points we could push to the summit of Knockanaffrin, 751 m, so on we went, accompanied by a bionic mother and daughter team who we had caught up with but could not drop! Soon after, in thick fog we made it to the top where they broke out a bottle of brandy and rolled some smokes. I shared out some ginger cake and we had a very festive 10 mins on the cliff overlooking a beautiful corrie. At least, it would have been beautiful if the visibility wasn't down to 20 metres!!!





More to follow tomorrow, if people still want me to share. I didn't realise I had so much to write about!!!!

Local-womanizer

Sounds good so far,Keep it coming!

concussion

Cheers LW, I'll get cracking on it tomorrow morning ;D

Just wanted to add the Foundations Facebook page, it has about 70 photos of the event -
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Mercy-University-Hospital-Foundation-Cork/106655463608

Best of all, they've decided to run it again next year

pmg58

That sounds like brilliant craic, I think you may have just inspired me to take up mountaineering or hillwalking.

concussion

Continuing from the summit of Knockanaffrin

After our booze and cake stop we descended back into the col and continued down the east side of the mountain toward the corrie, Loch Mohra. The gradient was so steep we had to zigzag down but it was great to be descending rather than climbing. Approaching the lake, the fog lifted and we could see that there was an almost vertical 250 m drop from the ridge we had just come off (I should point out, now that I've rechecked the map, that the summit itself overlooked the next valley and not the lake itself. More importantly, the company who organised the entire event, The Adventure Agency, had the route flagged for safety due to the bad visibility).

Due to time constraints the peak challenge had been stopped after we started so everyone was now ahead of us at the lake. The next challenge (as if the previous 30 km, with a total ascent of over 900 m, carrying packs, wasn't enough!) involved a kayak but because of the queue of people we headed to the final challenge - to build a sustainable fire. We dropped our packs and went about collecting twigs and branches of various sizes and after about 5 minutes had enough to build a tepee of light twigs supported by small branches. Into this we placed the smallest twigs and lit it using the cotton wool/vaseline combination. It caught very quickly, a testament to the dry wood more than our endeavors, and two minutes later we had a nice little fire going. We weren't even cold or hungry but it was amazing how comforting it was and it really pained me to extinguish it.

After this we went back to the lake for the kayak challenge - paddle into the middle using your hands and read the message on the float. It was bloody freezing but thankfully it was only my hands which were immersed, otherwise I would have been building another fire! With that completed, we headed for our campsite, 'only' a kilometer away (and uphill) which turned out to be the longest kilometer of the day!! Once in, we had to build our shelter for the night. Most people were using their orange survival bags as tarps and building really nifty tents and of course the PDF had their basha's up in seconds but we decided to do it as naturally as we could. It didn't look like rain and besides, we had our bivvy bags if it did. We found a suitable gap between the rows of trees and built up the low side about 6 inches using pegged in logs. We then lashed a log along trees on the upper side (maybe not 100% natural but I wasn't inclined to make cordage out of nettles!) and laid light branches 6 inches apart to form our sloped roof. We then wove lighter fir branches horizontally finally thatched it with clumps of long grass which we pulled up, still attached by the roots. The result was a shelter just wide enough for two which was completely camouflaged into the hill - not the intention but a nice result! Tools used - 2 meters of paracord, a sharp knife and the mini-saw on my Leatherman.

It was dark when we finished, the camp fire was going strong and dinner had arrived - a good chicken stew which we washed down with plenty of hot sweet tea. Cans of beer and cider and a good few naggins of whiskey appeared from peoples bags but after about half an hour of chatting and comparing aches and we were too knackered to keep going. It was only was only 9 pm but people were already nodding off by the fire Into the shelter for a great nights sleep (thanks to a new Therma-Rest and 3 season sleeping bag) and we were up again at 6am, refreshed and remarkably pain free.

We had a quick breakfast and then dismantled our camp. I took down the paracord and miraculously the structure remained intact, only coming down when I repeatedly jumped on it. We were then given the checkpoints we had to reach on our way to the finish in Clonmel. Our route took us over nearly every peak on the way but the worst part was at the start - the almost sheer side of Knockanaffrin. After 10 minutes zigzagging up I decided the best option was 'up the middle with smoke' and sprinted straight up the last hundred meters, figuring it would hurt more to keep plodding on for another while. I don't know if it was a better option but it definitely took less time!! Once over the top we descended into thick fog, following the flags for about 15 minutes until, suddenly, there were no more. We continued another 100 m but still no luck so we stopped and I took a bearing back the way we came before forming a skirmish line with some others who had caught up. We paced out another 200 m on the same bearing to no avail so we decided to turn left 90 degrees and go straight down the mountain. Visibility was about 50 m and we would come across one of two valleys at the foot of the hill - depending on it's orientation we could then turn left or right to hit our control point. After about 10 minutes descent we reached the south facing valley, turned right and hit our control point, obscured in the mist only 100 meters away.

With the group of 15 or so back on tarmac, we put the foot down and started really motoring, trying to catch up with the officers who a 25 minute head start on us. 45 mins later we were at the summit of Lacknafrankee - after this there we no more higher peaks, although we would still have a few climbs ahead. We took the descent at a run, not the greatest idea with the knee deep heather but we wanted to really push ourselves. 8 minutes later we had covered the 1000m down into the col where the fog cleared and we glimpsed two figures just disappearing out of view. A quick check of the map showed them to be about 20 mins ahead – we had evidently lost some time coming down the side of Knockanaffrin in the fog. On we pressed, climbing steadily for 20 minutes until we finally got to the point where it was all downhill to Clonmel. Stuffing handful after handful of jelly babies into my mouth, we took off at a run again, only pausing to check in at the last control. 3 km later we rounded the corner at the pub to find we had come in only 4 minutes after the first team, meaning we had completed the 19 kilometers 21 minutes faster. I don’t know how hard they were pushing, but it certainly gave us the motivation to keep going despite the pain and discomfort (esp Danny, who had stepped on a 4 inch nail only three days before!!!)

The officers had the right idea – breakfast rolls from the shop so I headed over to the hot counter for provisions. After that, and a few stretches, we headed inside the pub for teas, coffees and, in my case, whiskey for a sore tooth. Over the next hour or so, the rest of the teams and a great time was had, swapping stories, cursing the fog and heavy packs and taking lots of photos. Once everyone was accounted for, Michael from the Foundation (who had completed the challenge swell) thanked us for our fundraising and our participation and announced that the event would be run again next year. Despite the aches, pains and minor injuries, this was received very well, with everyone agreeing it was a great event and most saying they’d be back for another one. We had a final group photo and then we got on the bus back to the event to pick up our spare kit and have a well deserved shower!!

In closing (to those of you who have gotten this far), I would like to extend my thanks to all those who sponsored me in this event. It’s an excellent charity and the Challenge itself was brilliant, catering for all fitness and experience levels. I’ll definitely be doing it again next year, as will many others. Hopefully some people reading this will decide to come along too!



Edit: Attached routes taken for day 1 (red) and day 2 (black). The confusion over non-existant roads etc during the orienteering can be seen by a lot of backtracking on the red route!!!

iceage

That looks like a chewy enough route there Concussion, I might blow that up and have a butchers at it considering I live in Clonmel!:) Good job on the backtracking, testament to good map and compass work hey.

Great effort catching up to those PDF lads 25 mins ahead of you. And all for a really worthy cause. I'd say there was plenty of pints when it was over. Well done mate.

pmg58

Well done concussion. Out of interest, how long did it take you to put up that shelter?

concussion

Cheers lads, much appreciated.

The biggest problem with the orienteering was that the ground at the first checkpoint we aimed for (Number Three, north of Cloghadda) did not match up with how it was portrayed on the map. To further confuse us, the marker itself wasn't numbered so we couldn't be sure if it was 3 or 10, off to the west. We resolved it by heading east to pick up 4 at Carrickatober and pacing back the 800m. 90% sure that the control was in fact marked incorrectly we made for 10 along the roads and confirmed its location. We then went through thick new growth forest back to three (I still have pine needles in odd places!!) to confirm 3 was not in the marked location but was at a more northerly intersection. After that it was easy....well, easier. You can see from the rest of the route we didn't take the best paths as they were bloody difficult to find. Great experience though, I'd never used pacing much before and was please to see I was only out ~25 meters over 1000 m.

As for the shelter, I reckon it took about an hour. I don't think it would have withstood much rain as the grasses weren't woven in that well. In a real situation I would definately have used my survival bag, either as a bivvy bag or cut open as a tarp to cover an A-frame but it was great fun to build it from scratch.


Edit - Iceage, I'll clear my map and scan it again with just the control points if you like

iceage

Cheers Gavin, I'd appreciate that.

Notogoldenpages

I beleive the charity are running a beefed up version of the Comeragh Challenge exclusively for members of the Defence Forces in April.
Worth checking in with them:
Email: info@mercyhospitalfoundation.ie
Web: www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie

concussion

They are indeed, thanks for posting. There's going to be one for the DF in April, another open one in Wicklow the following week and another Comeragh Challenge in September. More info when I get it.

outdoorhead

Hey, details are up:

http://www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie/level1/25

there are 3 challenges:

Defences Forces exclusive in April
Wicklow in May
Comeragh in September

Mercy Hospital

This year the Mercy Hospital Foundation has not one but two
extreme mountain survival challenges to test you to the limits!

Our brand new Wicklow Mountains Survival Challenge will be held on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd May 2010. While the Comeragh Mountain Survival Challenge is back by popular demand on the 24th, 25th and 26th September 2010.

The aim of the Mountain Survival Challenges 2010 is to raise €100,000 and to provide you with a unique and exciting personal experience. Funds raised through the Mercy University Hospital Foundation are used to purchase state of the art equipment, to enhance and develop services and to help Hospital staff in providing a world class service to the patients.

In order to take part in a challenge you must raise a minimum of €650 per person. We can provide you with a sponsorship pack and lots of fundraising ideas so you can raise the required sponsorship. Challenges are designed for teams of two so each team needs to raise a minimum of €1,300 in aid of the Mercy.
www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie/survival


“The challenge will bring you to the limits both psychologically and physically. Anyone who wants to prove themselves should try it.” Kieran Coughlan, Comeragh Challenge Participant 2009

If you have any queries on the challenges or other fundraising events please contact us on 021 4274076 or by email to info@mercyhospitalfoundation.ie