Michael wins Oxfam Ireland's Epic Challenge

The ‘Oxfam Strollers’ team also included Maria McCarter and Noel McCarter from Omagh, and Robert Boyd from Belfast.

The arduous event required teams of four to trek by day and by night without sleep to complete a 100km course inside 36 hours.

Starting in Newcastle early on the morning of Saturday, September 4, the team walked the gruelling route through the Mourne and Cooley Mountains and The Tain Way, before crossing the finishing line in Carlingford in the early hours of Sunday morning.

From a field of 102 teams which started the event, ‘Oxfam Strollers’ was the first mixed team to cross the finishing line and finished third overall, completing the 62 mile route in the magnificent time of 20 hours 40 minutes and 15 seconds.

The team will collect an award for their fantastic achievement at a ceremony in Carlingford.

Michael Sloan said: “As well as suffering illness and injury prior to the start, we then had to face the bad weather and a really demanding route, but we were determined to finish together as a team and improve on our time from last year”.

There is still time for others to support the team’s fundraising efforts in aid of Oxfam Ireland – simply go to https://netbel.oxfamireland.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=354&frtid=46 to donate.

The ‘Oxfam Strollers’ team would like to thank everyone who has very generously supported them so far, including the people of Ballymena, Belfast and Omagh.