When Avvio’s hotshot web developer and support engineer – Barry Kennedy – told us he would be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, not many of us knew whether to believe him! However, he has proved us all wrong and has spent every weekend and evening for the past few months preparing himself, and he sets off for the expedition tomorrow.
Barry said: “I’ve been hiking since I was 10 years old, but I took a break from it for a couple of years. I had been looking to get back to the hills for a while – I’m very goal focused when it comes to my fitness and Kilimanjaro has always been one of those big bucket list items! It’s the most achievable of the Seven Summits, so I set that as my goal and I’ve been working towards it for the past few months.
“As well as a personal goal, it’s also a great chance to inspire the members of my Scout group as they start to take to the hills (like I did when i was their age!).”
Barry is departing for Tanzania on 15 September, and is joining a group from Pat Falvey Adventures. The gruelling trip will take on the Machame Route, also known as the ‘Whiskey’ route (let’s hope it’s also of Irish descent!), and will take Barry and his team around five days to reach the summit.
This trip isn’t just a bucket list goal for Barry. He’s also raising valuable funds for Limerick Suicide Watch; a group of volunteers who patrol the bridges of Limerick city centre ,at night to help people in distress. Barry explains why he chose the charity: “Limerick has seen an increase in suicides over the last few years, and the volunteers from the charity have been doing fantastic work trying to turn things around. I often meet the crews out on patrol as I walk home at night and wanted to do something to support them.”
