Cavan Rose is on top of Africa!
Tara Cunningham who conquered Mt. Kilimanjaro in aid of the Volunteers Serives Overseas.
Tara Cunningham (22) from Middle Chapel in Cootehill joined ten other amateur trekkers to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the Volunteers Services Overseas (VSO) earlier in the summer and in the process became one of the first Cavan people to do so. The VSO is the official partner of the Rose of Tralee International Festival.
The 2009 Cavan Rose loves a challenge and when VSO offered her the opportunity to climb Kili she could not refuse. "My parents Clare and Gerry were a bit worried when I told them what I was going to do but they eventually came around to the idea." It was the biggest challenge Tara has ever faced.
Tara certainly was determined to conquer the fourth highest mountain in the world at 5,895 metres (19,334 feet) and long with her ten other colleagues they each had to raise €4,750 in aid of VSO - a far cry from taking in any pageant!
She initially began training in February but soon realised that she could not do it alone. Tara then joined a gym and they designed a programme for her. It was a tough regime and Tara was putting in two hours, four days a week. Another concern for Tara and her colleagues was altitude sickness but they never suffered from it.
On the climb Tara was joined by the Queensland Rose, Kelly O'Shea who has family connections with Cavan; New York Rose, Ashling Colton; the 2007 Limerick Rose, Melanie Carroll and her friend Sarah O'Neill. They were joined by some of the escorts and Tara was accompanied by her escort, Patrick Foley from Kerry, as well as Colin Conway, Noel Judge, Sean McGarrell, Ciaran O'Connell and VSO representative John White.
"Initially we travelled to Kilimanjaro via Kenya to see at first hand where the funds we raised were being utilised." The group then visited a VSO project, the Kenyan Union of the Blind (KUB), in Nairobi.
On arrival they were blindfolded and given a walking cane. "What we had initially deemed to be a light-hearted ice breaker to welcome the group, revealed a saddening reality, a taster of the lives that the visually impaired lead on a daily basis and the challenges they face," said Tara.
The profound impact the visit to the KUB had on the group provided them with the motivation they needed to take on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world and the following day they embarked on an adventure of a lifetime.
"Our trek commenced via the Rongai Route - hailed the most scenic route of all. Seven days of trekking - experiencing four seasons (from sunhats to thermals... we wore it) and travelling across various genres of mountainous terrain (including the jagged peaks of Mawenzi, the lunar desert and the Kibo Crater), which all offered spectacular views.
Their final ascent was the toughest of all, rising at midnight, it was the scree slopes which they scaled, in a zig-zag route to reach Gilman's Point, standing at 5,685 metres. "As we reached Gilman's Point between 5.30 and 6am, we witnessed sunrise, first light at dawn, which was breathtaking."
Any moments of struggle and doubt were eradicated by the high spirits of the porters who'd accompanied them on the trek. Uhuru Point, (5,895 metres) the highest peak of Kilimanjaro was now in touching distance... so off they plodded towards the crater of the dormant volcano.
At 8am on Friday, June 25, eleven weary trekkers, one by one, all arrived at Uhuru Point. "What an exhilarating yet indescribable feeling - we were standing, encircled by a bed of clouds, at the peak of the fourth highest mountain in the world, the overwhelming sense of fulfilment and achievement hit us all!"
Tara said on behalf of the group and VSO, she would like to express her gratitude to Don Smith's pub, Cootehill, and Gallonray House, Maudabawn for hosting two fund-raisers, to all those who contributed at both events, the staff of St. Davnet's Hospital, Monaghan, and to all who made donations via her online fund-raising site and to her in person.
"Thank you all for your generous contributions to our fund-raising efforts - it was you who were at the forefront of our minds on the last hours (albeit the toughest hours) of the trek, as we scaled our way to the top of Kili and proudly waved the Cavan flag at Africa's highest point!"
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