Orange alert for Cycle Against Suicide

A distinctly orange tinge will infiltrate Cork’s rebel red hue at the end of the month when more than 1,000 cyclists wearing the distinctive bright tee-shirts arrive in the city during the annual Round Ireland Cycle Against Suicide campaign.

The riders will arrive in Cork on April 30, on the Waterford-Cork leg of a 1,400km cross-border marathon that departs Naas on this day next week and culminates in Dundalk two weeks later.

A total of more than 7,000 cyclists are expected to participate in some stage of the journey, almost trebling last year’s inaugural number.

Cycle Against Suicide was originated after Galway businessman Jim Breen visited a suicide awareness centre while guesting on RTÉ television’s The Secret Millionaire. The attentive entrepreneur was stunned by the overwhelming response to the programme.

The experience also informed him that he had suppressed mental health issues himself prompting his mission to highlight the issues of suicide and depression.

“It’s not a fundraiser, it’s an awareness campaign with the message being emphatically it’s ok not to be ok and to ask for help,” he says.

cycleagainstsuicide.com