Kildare friends gearing up to take part in Mongol Rally 2019 this Summer in aid of The Irish Cancer Society

By Kim O'Leary

Three friends from Newbridge in Co Kildare are gearing up to take part in the annual Mongol Rally 2019, which will see them ravel 10,000 miles across Europe in a small car for charity.

Friends Cian Rea, Paddy Kavanagh and John Finn are taking on the Mongol Rally this July in their 2002 Nissan Micra 'Audrey' to raise much needed funds for The Irish Cancer Society and they are called Team 'Mon-We-Golia'.

Cian is in his final year studying an ME in Engineering with Business at UCD, Paddy is a graduate of DIT working as an Architectural Technologist and John is studying engineering also at UCD. The three friends are all aged 23 and have been friends since childhood, also attending secondary school together at Newbridge College.

The Mongol Rally is an international charitable rally which involves driving 10,000 miles from Prague to Mongolia in a 1 litre engine car, with thousands of participants coming from across the globe. The three friends have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society and to cover costs associated with the journey, and their planned route is through Europe, Iran and all the 'Stans' countries then on to Mongolia.

Speaking to KildareNow this week, Cian Rea explained that the rally will officially launch on July 22 in Prague, Czech Republic, and the three friends have to drive 'Audrey' to Prague for the launch. The rally finishes in the Mongolia capital Ulaan Baatar and the finish line will remain open until September 16, 2019.

Cian explained: "Our chosen charity partner is The Irish Cancer Society who do great work raising awareness, funding research and supporting those affected by this illness in Ireland. The charity is close to our hearts with cancer affected us all, both directly an indirectly and for this reason we want to do everything in our power to support this cause.

The three friends have spent several months preparing 'Audrey' for the journey, and they are hoping to raise 7,500 which is made up of 5,000 directly for charity and the remainder to cover the expenses. If they don't use all of the remaining 2,500 it will be given directly to The Irish Cancer Society.

"We want to emphasise that any money not spent in this regard will be fed straight back to the charity. Any and all donations, big and small will be greatly appreciated and will go a long way. We're really excited for the rally, it's something we've wanted to do for years ad hopefully we'll get a bit of support from the people of Kildare before we set off," said Cian.

The three friends from Newbridge are hoping to finish the rally within 6 weeks of the launch and for more information and to donate check out the GoFundMe page.