Hope in the rear-view mirror

Record breaking tractor reversing charity fundraiser

Absent friends were on the mind of a Monaghan man who completed a record-breaking fundraiser last weekend and raised close to €20,000 for charity in the process.

Aaron Corley broke the Guinness World Record after reversing a tractor and trailer for 68.8km from the Ardee border to Clones on Sunday.

Proceeds from the event will go towards Make a Wish Ireland, and LA519, a suicide prevention and awareness charity.

On Sunday morning, Aaron set off from Co Louth in his best friend Paddy Flynn’s tractor. He had not been in the cab of a tractor in two-years and told The Anglo-Celt that he hadn’t done any practice for the challenge.

Despite everything he’s achieved, Aaron revealed that it “wouldn’t annoy him at all” if he never drove a tractor again.

“I wanted to make it as hard as possible,” Aaron explained. “I thought about it a few years ago and I wanted to do something different. I lost a few friends, I suppose, and that’s where it came from.

“They were on my mind today, I wanted to make it as hard as possible to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I hope I’ve done that.

“I’m just trying to make people aware that no matter how hard something is, you still can get through it.”

The Smithboro man is now living in Clones, where he is a retained fire fighter, as well as running a kid’s indoor play centre, and his own bouncy castle business.

Aaron explained that working with children all of the time was part of the reason that he chose Make a Wish Ireland as one his charities.

However, the main question the large crowd had for Aaron when he arrived back at the Ulster Canal in Clones, was how his neck was holding up after all the reversing.

With a smile, he admitted it was sore, although it didn’t stop him embracing friends and family among the large crowd who had assembled to welcome him back.

Members of the Gone but Not Forgotten Bikers group, which includes Aaron, were out in full force to show their support for the fundraiser.

“I’m a biker myself, I’m involved with everything they do. I didn’t really know that they had done this for me, it is amazing.”

Charity

Volunteers from across the country had travelled to Clones on Sunday to cheer Aaron on for the final stretch of his journey.

Among them was Dubliner Molly O’Neill, a community fundraiser for Make a Wish.

“He absolutely smashed it out of the park,” Molly said. “The trip was easier for me; I definitely wouldn’t have taken it [the reverse] on myself. It was some challenge and some feat. We’re delighted for him to have achieved it, and so grateful for the support.

“One of my favourite things about fundraising is the ideas that people have. It makes it all that more exciting.

“We knew we wanted to help as much as we could to get this off the ground. To see everyone here today and what it has become is incredible.”

Make a Wish Ireland supports children living with a critical medical condition. “We aren’t government funded, it’s the public who support us in making these wishes come through,” Molly said.”We’re proud of the work we do. We’re so grateful to communities, like what Aaron has done.”

As Aaron puts it himself, helping young people is the most important thing: “It wasn’t about the record for me, it was lovely to have them on board, but it was all about the charities.”