SLIDESHOW: Staff at University Hospital Limerick embark on 200km charity cycle

A team of doctors and nursing staff from University Hospital Limerick are making a special push for charity by cycling the 200km from Dooradoyle to Dublin to raise €100,000 for four charities working with people affected by Covid-19.

The four beneficiaries of the initiative are Alone, Aware, Breakthrough Cancer Research, and ICUsteps Dublin.

Ahead of their departure from UHL this Thursday morning, ICU consultant Dr Margaret Coleman, thanked the staff from anaesthesiology, theatre and radiology in UHL who were joining the charity cycle, and to The Hub Bike for Life, Limerick, who are providing support for the cyclists on both legs of the journey.

WATCH ️+
Some scenes at UHL earlier today as our colleagues limbered up for the #ICU4U 2-day charity cycle - part of a national effort to raise €100,000 for older people, cancer patients, mental health & ICU patient aftercare support.

Donate: https://t.co/lPrSh9gGe2 pic.twitter.com/InpwwOlolR

— UL Hospitals (@ULHospitals) September 3, 2020

"We are appealing for people to make any donation, no matter how small, to help us reach our target for these charities, which mean a lot to us. All of the charities didn’t get a chance to fundraise during the summer, and that’s why we’re trying to do something to help them. The Irish public have shown enormous generosity to us during the pandemic, and this is our way of giving something back to communities and provide help to people who need it most," she said.

Among the group from UHL who are taking part are Dr Catherine Motherway and her husband Christopher Curley and a mother and daughter pairing, in the form of recently retired ICU nurse Eileen Greaney O'Neill and her daughter Orlaith O'Neill, who now works in the same unit at UHL where her mother worked for 32 years.

Meanwhile, team captain Dr Coleman’s niece, Sorcha Coleman, is a Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor (NCHD) currently in training at UHL.

My aunt, Mags and I heading for Portlaoise on day 1 of the #ICU4U charity cycle this morn. We are all part of UHL's ICU staff fundraising for a variety of very worthy cause- Please donate at https://t.co/uCmeKwh3sm @ULHospitals pic.twitter.com/s9rOJv3maf

— Sorcha Coleman (@nicholmain) September 3, 2020

The UHL group is one of five groups staging an ‘ICU-4U’ cycle to Dublin this Thursday and Friday. On Friday afternoon, the Limerick cyclists will converge with their colleagues from Belfast, Galway, Cork and Waterford at Phoenix Park, for a final combined cycle to the finish line at Aras an Uachtarain.

Visit icu4u.ie/ for information, or click here to donate