Irish Examiner view: Vibrant lives lost

Deaths of driver and climber

Craig Breen died last Thursday following a test-driving crash. Picture: Micke Fransson/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

Rally driver Craig Breen was laid to rest yesterday in the cemetery at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Ferrybank, Co Waterford. 

He died following a test-driving crash last Thursday while preparing for the World Rally Championship’s Croatia Rally. His co-driver James Fulton was unharmed.

Breen was just 33 and had been involved in World Rally Championship driving since 2009. His standing in the sport and popularity among his peers was confirmed by the turnout at yesterday’s funeral, and by the tributes paid by other drivers and sportspeople in recent days.

He is not the only sportsperson who has died recently. 

Even as the funeral in Waterford was under way yesterday, reports were filtering through from Nepal that the well-known Northern Ireland climber Noel Hanna had died descending Annapurna, one of the highest peaks in the world, and one of the most dangerous.

The element of risk in some sports cannot be ignored — indeed, an inherent danger is part of the attraction of activities such as rally driving and mountain climbing. 

Climber Noel Hanna died descending Annapurna. Picture: noelhanna.com

The sense of testing oneself, of searching out one’s limits, can be central to the appeal of such pursuits, activities in which risk and safety must be balanced.

Such abstract acknowledgements will not make the sudden loss of Craig Breen and Noel Hanna any easier for their families and friends to cope with in the days and weeks to come, however.

Condolences to all of them on their loss.