This article is from page 65 of the 2008-08-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 65 JPG
ENNIS man Brian Howe was among the thousands of climbers who braved the steep climb and awkward terrain to conquer Croagh Patrick last week.
Walking in his bare feet, it took taxi driver Brian close to five hours to reach the summit but at no point did he think about turning back.
Whenever the going got tough, and it was tougher than he had antici- pated, Brian recalled his reason for climbing.
Two of Brian’s friends, Pat Tuttle and Michael McInerney, died six
months ago. When Brian decided to climb Croagh Patrick, he decided to do so in memory of Pat and Brian.
Brian explained, “Michael died on New Years eve. Pat had died a week before. Myself and Pat used to do eve- rything together and I knew Michael through a friend of mine, Catriona. I was glad I made it up there and I was glad I was able to do it for the lads”.
“I’m glad I did it,’ added Brian, ‘When I had it done I was very hap- py, its good to be able to do some- thing to show your appreciation of a lifetime.
Brian first climbed Croagh Patrick
eight years ago but found the climb a whole different proposition this time around.
“T definitely found it a lot harder than the first time I did it. The first time there seemed to be a lot more rocks and boulders that you could hold onto and get across. This time, the stones were a lot looser. It was like gravel, very sharp, and it would cut into your feet. In saying that the weather wasn’t too bad. The rain was kind of misty but it wasn’t too bad.”
Still, at the halfway mark, Brian didn’t think he was going to make it to the top.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I was go- ing to do it. I thought I was going to have to be airlifted down. My feet were in bits. But I kept going and got to the top”.
Brian, who keeps fit by jogging every morning, is keen to return to Mayo next year.
This year’s Reek Sunday event at- tracted close to 20,000 people and was marked by the first ever tel- evised mass on the summit of the 2510ft mountain. The mountain, a place of pagan worship before it was christened by St Patrick, is regarded as one of the holiest sites in Ireland.