THE FAYTHE Harriers hurling and camogie club launched their second annual Pikeman Challenge in the Talbot Hotel on Tuesday of last week.

Chairman, William Murphy, said that the inaugural event had been a tremendous success for the club, both in terms of raising morale and also raising muchneeded finance for future developments at their grounds in Páirc Charman.

He said that the club is currently in the middle of an ambitious development which included the provision of a hurling wall, the expansion of existing playing pitches and the development of a state of the art floodlit all-weather playing arena.

The inaugural event took place in August last year and involved 13 intrepid souls, mostly from within the club itself, trekking 100 kilometres over a four-day period, including a beach walk to Curracloe, a walk around the historic Slade and Hook areas of South Wexford, a ten-hour marathon walk over the Blackstairs mountains, and over the historic Three Rock walk and on into Wexford town.

The walkers included wellknown Wexford town import from Enniscorthy, Joe Doyle from Barrack Street. Joe carried out the walk on behalf of both the Harriers and also the Irish Kidney Association and used the occasion of the launch to present a cheque to IKA Wexford representative, Liam Buttle.

Joe said that he thoroughly enjoyed the event and was honoured to be able to raise money for his charity. He encouraged others to get involved and also to raise much-needed funds for their selected charities and said that he was already looking forward to the task ahead again.

On behalf of the Irish Kidney Association, Mr. Buttle thanked the Harriers and especially Joe Doyle for taking on such a task for the benefit of his organisation and said that they were very much dependent on such wonderful acts of generosity.

William Murphy said that the format of the walk was changing slightly this year and would involve a three-day trek over 75 kilometres from Friday, August 21, to Sunday, August 23.

The reason for this was to try to encourage more people to do the walk, who might have trouble getting time off work.

However, he was glad to announce that the 'challenge' of the event was still very much present and that in particular the trek over the beautiful Blackstairs mountains on the Saturday would give great personal satisfaction to all those able to manage it.

Event organiser, Joe Hore, said that it provided a readymade vehicle for organisations to raise much-needed funds. Faythe Harriers look after the full organisation of the event and will provide all back-up required for the participants including travel, insurance, lunches, medical and accommodation if necessary. Participants pay a set fee to the Harriers and all monies raised in excess of this amount will then go to the charity of their choice.

The Harriers look after all costs involved and will even provide the participants with the necessary sponsorship cards to collect their monies.

Team participation will be allowed, so if a person would like to take part but cannot commit to all three days, then they can enter a 'relay' team, which would allow different members of their group to compete over separate days.

Both the club Chairman and the event organiser have already committed to walking in the event and will be joined by other Harriers members, including former inter-county greats such as Larry O'Gorman and Tony 'Sack' Walsh, while noted hurley maker, Philip Doyle, will also join the lads.

A weekend of fun, craic and great stories is guaranteed. Anybody interested in taking part should check the event website at www.pikemanchallenge.com or contact William Murphy at (086) 2636305, Joe Hore at (087) 9672040 or Richard Murphy at (087) 6680630.