Killea man clocks up 600km in fundraiser to honour close friend

Killea man Gary Crossan clocked up over 600km and has raised €4,500 - and counting - during October in a fundraising in honour of one of his best friends who died earlier this year.

The former Finn Harps player has been raising money for the Renal Unit of Letterkenny University Hospital, where his close pal Gerry Lennon received years of treatment.

In July, Gerry died at Galway University hospital, leaving a huge void in his community.

“Gerry was so well known; he was like a brother to us,” Crossan says of a man who acted as a groomsman at his wedding.

“Gerry travelled up to the Renal Unit in Letterkenny three days a week. He would get a taxi up at seven in the morning and come back after a few hours of dialysis. He did that for nine years.”

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Across five seasons at Finn Park from his debut in 2003, Crossan scored eight goals in 76 games. Most recently, he has been playing for Kildrum Tigers in the Donegal League Premier Division.

His gruelling fundraiser totalled 415km on a bike, a 5km run each day amounting to 155km and 1km a day of a walk adding a further 31km to his tally.

Initially, he only planned to do around 200km on the bike. Doing it on a mountain bike made the venture a little more testing.

“The reason I done that was just to make it harder,” he says. “Gerard was shown such great kindness and care by all the staff and I just want to raise money for the unit to say thank you in his memory.

“It was a commitment and not getting injured was the big one.”

A pulled calf on the ninth day tested his willpower, but on he went.

The run saw him complete 5km on the old railway line while the cycle took him around a variety of roads in his locality and around Derry city.

A GoFundMe page has collected just shy of €4,000 while sponsor cards and donations have added around €500 more.

“Gerry lived just four doors away from us, he really was like a brother and his mother was like a second mother to us, so this is sort of on behalf of all of the Crossan family and his friends,” Crossan, now a coach with the Finn Harps Academy 2010s, says.

“It’s got so much support from people around Killea, St Johnston, Carrigans and Newtown, but everyone knew him from working in the bookies. We’ve been getting support in from all over the world, it’s been amazing.

“Gerry was treated so well in he Renal Unit and also down in Galway. He suffered badly at the end, but they treated him brilliantly and they loved Gerry in there. This is just to say thanks and to honour Gerry’s memory.”