A KINSALE teenager, who has made one of the largest ever donations received by his local RNLI station, has been hailed a hero fora his outstanding fundraising efforts.
Joey Hurley raised an incredible €24,800 through his ‘Duathlon For Des’, which was a gruelling challenge he dedicated to the memory of his godfather and best friend, Des Hurley, a much loved fisherman who died at sea in a tragic accident on December 14th last.
Appropriately, Joey made his presentation to the RNLI at the Kinsale memorial in honours of the brave souls who were lost at sea.
The entire town of Kinsale came out to support Joey on August 10th as he kayaked from the Bulman Bar to James Fort, followed by a 10km run from James Fort to Charles Fort and back, finishing with the 1km returning crossing to the Bulman. He bravely pressed on with his plans despite the recent death of his beloved nana, well known Bandon woman, Helen Gabriel, to whom he also dedicated his challenge. Joey attributes much of his determinations to his friend and personal trainer Mikey Power of Bfit Bandon, who helped him channel his grief into such a positive cause.
Joey’s incredible fundraising effort will fund 15 additional crew members and make a significant contribution to saving lives at sea.
‘Joey is an absolute hero and Des and Nana Helen would be very proud, as we all are. The volunteer crew in Kinsale can never thank Joey enough for choosing the RNLI to benefit from his challenge and we would like to acknowledge all the local families and fishing communities around the coast of Ireland who contributed generously to help Joey raised such an amazing sum of money,’ said John O’Mahony, a Hurley family friend and Kinsale RNLI volunteer.
