I was fortunate enough to join Rory Best for a day on the 2nd of his 200 miles to Mayo walks, to raise funds for the Cancer Fund for Children, specifically to enable them to build a 2nd Daisy Lodge centre in Cong, Co Mayo. Over the 2 walks (the first one from Daisy Lodge in Newcastle, Co Down and the second one from the Aviva Stadium in Dublin), Rory and team raised millions of Euros.

Even though I only walked for one day, I learned so much about what this amazing charity is doing to provide care to children and families across the 32 counties of Ireland. The Cancer Fund for Children empower, connect and strengthen children, young people and their families so they feel better equipped to cope with the emotional impact of cancer. Their services include individual counselling, group support sessions, and residential programs, often hosted at their Daisy Lodge facility in County Down and soon to be Daisy Lodge in Cong, Co. Mayo., which provide therapeutic short breaks to help families reconnect and find resilience amid the challenges of cancer.

So with this experience, we decided to take up the baton from Rory, to further raise essential funds for this remarkable charity... and from this the 26 Mountains to Mayo challenge was born.

Over a period of 9 days from June 7th to 15th 2025, a team of 20 business leaders from around Ireland (and beyond!) are tackling the highest peaks in each county across Ireland and aiming to raise at least €1million for Cancer Fund for Cancer Fund for Children, to ensure that no child in the 32 counties of Ireland needs to go through cancer alone.