Sean, 10, becomes youngest European to scale Kilimanjaro

EATING lots of broccoli helped 10-year-old Sean McSharry become Europe’s youngest person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

As well as training hard, Sean from Stillorgan, Dublin, had to eat lots of vegetables, particularly broccoli, and cut out sweets.

Yesterday Sean, called his mum, Noleen, to say he had just reached the snow-capped summit with his uncle, intrepid mountaineer, Ian McKeever.

“The very first thing he said to me was that he suffered no altitude sickness and not ‘I love you and miss you,’” said Noleen.

Sean knew he would have to come down from Kilimanjaro, one of the highest mountains in the world, if he experienced altitude sickness.

“He sounded really proud and happy,” said Noleen, who is also proud of her son but greatly relieved that he was safe and well.

Even before Sean set off on his 5,899 metre trek up Kilimanjaro he asked Noleen how long he would have to wait before be could climb Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in western Europe.

“I told him that it would be as long as it took for him to save up for it, which would be a very long time,” said Noleen.

The youngest person ever on record to reach Kilimanjaro was Jordan Romero, who was also 10 years old, but about seven months younger than Sean, when he climbed the mountain in July 2006.

Last year Sean climbed to the top of Carrauntuohil in Co Kerry with Ian, who had just returned to Ireland after climbing Mount Everest.

“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,” he said.

Sean was also mentored by Harry Moore, a student at Terenure College who plays on the wing for the school’s senior cup rugby team.