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Displaying items by tag: Celtic Crossing Challenge

#KAYAKING - Firefighters from Northern Ireland are currently undertaking the challenge of a lifetime to raise funds for a local children's charity, as UTV Live News reports.

Starting yesterday, the eight-strong team from Belfast and Lisburn embarked on the Celtic Crossing Challenge, which involves climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland followed by a 100-mile cycle to the Mull of Kintyre, kayaking across the North Channel to Northern Ireland, another cycle from Cushendun to Newcastle via Belfast, and a final ascent up Slieve Donard.

The firefighters of the Specialist Rescue Team have put in months of training in preparation for the event, which will conclude on Tuesday, which involved many hours kayaking at sea and on local rivers and loughs.

Max Joyce of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) told UTV: "We'll be hitting Cushendun - hopefully Cushendun and not Iceland - at about 1pm on Monday and we would love people to come along and cycle with us into Belfast."

The challenge hopes to raise £20,000 for CLIC Sargent, a charity supporting young children with cancer. It has special significance for Joyce, who was diagnosed with cancer himself in 1997.

"It's worth every minute if we can in some small way help children who are suffering from this hideous disease," he said.

UTV Live News has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Kayaking

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!