Paddy completes Tour D'Afrique |
Jules Verne’s fictitious adventurer Phileas Fogg may have taken 80-days to travel around the world, but a young Dublin accountant just about matched the achievement in real life this Spring - when he used nothing more than pedal power to go from the top to bottom of the African continent, traversing ten countries, and cycling a total of 12,000kms.
27-year-old Paddy Berkery from Castleknock cycled for just over 90 days to go from top to bottom of the continent, before being met by his proud family and by the Irish Ambassador to South Africa Mr. Colin Wrafter, when he wheeled in to Cape Town, at the conclusion of an epic cycle which saw him raise just over €15,000 for charity.
A self-confessed cycling novice until he joined competitors of more than 15 different nationalities on the annual ‘Tour D’Afrique’ endurance rally, Paddy Berkery says that he was met with looks of disbelief when he unpacked his brand new bike at the start of the tour, in Egypt in early New Year.
‘Many of the 60 competitors had climbed the world’s highest peaks, had competed in multiple marathons, and had contested any number of ‘Iron Man’ endurance contests, so they found it hard to believe that the extent of my training was 160kms around Dublin and a few spinning classes’, the former PriceWaterhouse Cooper trainee said.
Inspired to embark on the 12,000km journey by both his prior knowledge of the ‘Tour D’Afrique’ event and his interest in doing something worthwhile to support development work in Africa, Paddy admits that in the early days of the event he genuinely thought that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
‘The first day’s stage was 134kms, with a brief pause after 7kms for an opening ceremony at the Pyramids. Arriving at the Pyramids I could already feel my legs begin to burn’, he recalls.
‘If I thought that was bad, the second day was one of the most physically demanding days of my life’,he said, as he recounted how they were required to cycle for a total of 11 hours into a driving head wind, before completing the 168km second stage, to their overnight rest stop.
Paddy Berkery says that although the beginning of the tour was a baptism of fire, as the days and the distance passed he settled into a rhythm, and could afford to look up and watch in wonder as the lush irrigated pastures of Egypt’s Nile valley gave way to the searing dust bowl of Sudan, and then onwards to the soaring mountain peaks of Northern Ethiopia.
‘By the time I had passed through Ethiopia I had lost more than eight kilograms in weight, but I quickly put it on again in Southern Africa, as we all gorged ourselves on as much fried food as we could get our hands on – just to have the fuel and the energy to keep going as the tour reached its closing stages’.
Paddy Berkery describes the Tour d’Afrique as an intense physical and mental challenge but also the ‘rewarding experience of a lifetime’
‘Because you are on a bike you are able to soak in the countryside as you pass by, and that is what we did, day after day. The sights, the sounds and the smells of Africa were with us every step of the way, and we got a really good opportunity to see the continent, and to observe the very different cultures, climates and landscapes’.
Paddy says that amongst his personal highlights of the journey were the warm and gracious people of Sudan, the spectacular landscapes of the Ethiopian Mountains, and the stark beauty of the Namibian Desert.
‘There were so many outstanding memories of the Tour, but one of the recurring highlights throughout the journey was completing the toughest days of the Tour and the sense of achievement on those days when you could see the camp approaching in the distance’.
The sole Irish competitor in this year’s Tour D’Afrique field, Paddy Berkery says that he was thrilled with the support he received from family, friends, work colleagues and other contacts, in particular the Irish farming community, and admits that he was bowled over to learn that his sponsorship efforts had netted upwards of €15,000 for Irish development agency Self Help Africa.
‘I have known about the work of Self Help Africa for a long time, and the agency’s work – supporting farming communities so that they can produce food and earn more from their activities is an approach that my own experiences tell me is exactly the right one, to eradicate hunger and poverty on that continent’.
‘Day after day we saw rural people working in the fields and doing their best in often difficult climates and in harsh terrain, just to make a living and support their families. It became very clear that with just a little help and support, these people could improve their lives beyond measure’, he says.
The son of retired former General Secretary of the Irish Farmers Association Michael Berkery, Paddy says that seeing his father, mother Mai, and sister Sarah holding up the tricolour as he pedaled towards the finishing line in Cape Town was a sight that will last long in his memory.
‘It was great that they could make it out to meet me at the finish of the race, and it was a great honour to also be greeted by the Irish Ambassador’, he says. |
