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High hopes for young climber

Friday, 04 April 2008

Climbing tall trees is about the height of adventurous ambitions for the average nine-year-old but one remarkable youngster from South County Dublin will attempt to climb one of the highest mountains in the world next month.
On April 24 Sean McSharry from Stillorgan flies to Africa in the hope of becoming the youngest person to ever climb Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, which lies in northeast Tanzania and rises in two snow-capped peaks to a height of 5,898 metres.
Sean is being guided in his quest by his godfather Ian McKeever, originally from Killiney, who last year broke the world record for the seven summits challenge by climbing each of the continent’s highest peaks and, taking an incredible 32 days off the previous record (155 days). Ian has already climbed Kilimanjaro himself as the third of the seven peaks. Sean is also being mentored by 17-year-old Harry Moore, a fifth year student from Terenure College, who plays on the wing for the school’s senior cup rugby team.
Sean said that the impending adventure was a dream come true.

“Last year I got to climb to the top of Carrountohill,” he said. “Ian had just come home from Everest and took me up. I really enjoyed climbing it. I asked my godfather if he thought I could climb any higher.
“He told me if I really wanted to do it and didn’t mind training really, really hard then I could do anything I wanted to, as long as I could see it in my head first.”
For the past three months Sean has been put through his paces in a rigorous training programme, which first of all involved him changing his diet and eating habits.
“They call me the broccoli kid in school,” he joked.
Sean attends Carysfort National School in Blackrock and his classmates have noticed some changes. Sean is happy so far with the changes in his physical condition.
“I’ve lost my tummy, am much fitter now and can run much faster playing football, which is really cool,” he revealed.
Eating lots and lots of green vegetables, increasing his iron content and cutting out the sweets has been just part of the regime. He also trains five days a week with his godfather in the Wicklow Mountains.
Ian McKeever believes success begins with the right attitude.
“Attitude before skill, always,” he declared. “Not that Sean lacks any amount of talent. He’s an incredible kid who even at a young age appreciates that you have to put the work in for anything you want in this life. Having Harry on board is a real bonus. He’s incredibly fit, but more importantly he’s attentive to Sean and hugely supportive. They get on great and we’re a team.”
Moore’s involvement in this challenge is a direct result of an impressive programme being developed in Terenure College by Padraig Forde who coaches the senior rugby team.
“We’ve been working with Ian on developing a leadership programme for the players, teaching them how to take responsibility, how to lead on the pitch by example and generally become more rounded individuals overall,” Mr Forde said.
“Ian came in to speak with the players earlier this year and his talk had a huge impact on them.”
The results have been highly impressive - in the first round of the senior cup Terenure came extremely close to beating the eventual champions Belvedere College only to be denied in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Sean himself has now shaved almost 10 minutes off his climbing times on Camaderry Hill in Glendalough, the training ground which he believes holds the key to his ultimate success or failure.
“Replicating the effects of altitude on the human heart is best served here,” he said. “If you can climb this hill efficiently, which slopes at a 45 degree angle, then in principle you can climb any mountain in the world.”
People can log onto the website www.takemehigher.ie to see how the three climbers fare in the coming weeks.

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