Ulster GAA stars take to the skies for charity skydive

GAA stars from across the province took to the skies recently for a daring skydive in aid of charity.

Nine high-profile GAA personalities from each of Ulster’s counties took on a 15,000 ft leap at Skydive Ireland on Friday 14th April to raise money for both the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s University Belfast and the Air Ambulance NI service.

The jumpers representing each county were:

• Antrim – Jane Adams, Camogie All-Star
• Armagh – Jarlath Burns, Ulster Senior Football Championship Winning Captain
• Cavan – Larry Reilly, Ulster Senior Football Championship winning star
• Derry – Aoife NÍ Chaiside, Camogie All Ireland Club Championship captain
• Donegal – Maxi Curran, Ladies Senior Football Manager
• Down – Benny Coulter, All-star Gaelic Footballer
• Fermanagh – Marty McGrath, All-Star Gaelic Footballer
• Monaghan – Dessie Mone, Ulster Senior Football Championship winning star
• Tyrone – Gemma Begley, Ladies All-Ireland Intermediate Championship winner,

Video footage of each successful skydiver’s jump can be viewed on ulster.gaa.ie/skydive, where you can still support your county by donating to the these two very worthwhile charitable causes.

Ulster GAA President, Ciarán McLaughlin, commented:

“I’m delighted that the GAA family in Ulster have come together to raise much needed funds for the chosen causes, Prostate Cancer Research at Queen’s University and Air Ambulance NI.

“This group of brave jumpers deserve tremendous credit for taking on the challenge on behalf of their counties, and Ulster GAA is indebted to them for their efforts.

“We look forward to confirming our final total raised in the coming days, which will be split equally between the two charities.”

Over 4,500 men in Ireland are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. The prostate cancer research team at Queen’s University Belfast, based at the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, is focused on improving treatments for those patients with the most serious types of prostate cancer.

The team, led by Prof Joe O’Sullivan, Prof Suneil Jain and oncologist Dr Aidan Cole is dedicated to ensuring that its patients and their families have the best treatments at the correct time and that survival rates continue to improve for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Air Ambulance NI work in partnership with the NI Ambulance Service (NIAS), to provide the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for the region. Serious or life-threatening situations can happen to anyone at any time and on average, every single day two individual finds themselves in critical need of the service.

The charity’s operational helicopter carries a crew compiling pilot, doctor, and paramedic, 365 days of the year operating for twelve hours every day. They attend some of the most traumatic medical incidents across the province and are dedicated to delivering the very best possible pre-hospital critical care, both at the scene and whilst transferring the patient to the most appropriate hospital for their specific injuries.

For more information about the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research: qub.ac.uk/research-centres/cancer-research

For more information about the Air Ambulance NI service: airambulanceni.org