On July 28th, we (Ellie & Molly) are setting off on a 1000km cycle from Mizen Head in Cork to Malin Head in Donegal.
Our route will follow the west coast of Ireland, from the southernmost to the northernmost tip.

We're aiming to raise €1 for every kilometre cycled.

We're fundraising for the Gaza Sunbirds, a para-cycling team founded in the Gaza Strip by Alaa al-Dali, a Palestinian cyclist and Olympic hopeful.

In 2018, after being repeatedly denied permission to travel for international competitions, Alaa qualified for the Asian Games. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that he feared he would lose out on due to border retaliations.

On the 30th March of that year, he joined the first ever March of Return in an act of peaceful protest, to demand his right to a career as a national athlete. He went with his bike, wearing his cycling gear.

Alaa was standing alone watching the demonstration approximately 300 metres from the separation fence, when an Israeli sniper shot him in the leg. The explosive bullet led to the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Though it seemed like the end of his cycling journey, Alaa refused to give up.

He channelled his grief and determination into founding a para-cycling team in Gaza, made up of fellow amputee athletes. They named themselves the Gaza Sunbirds after the brightly coloured Palestine sunbird, native to the region, a symbol of beauty, resilience, and the longing to fly free beyond the walls and borders that confine them.

Before October 2023, donations to the Sunbirds provided training, nutrition, equipment, and a rare outlet for hope. But since then, amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has subjected Palestinians to nearly two years of unimaginable violence, starvation, and displacement, the Sunbirds have redirected their mission.

Now, they are using every available resource to deliver life-saving, community-led aid inside Gaza: food parcels, hot meals, baby essentials, disability support, and more.

You can learn more about their vital work here:

https://gazasunbirds.org/

All funds raised will go directly to this amazing organisation, so please give anything you can.

And, if anyone wants to join us (on your bike or otherwise) for any part of the journey, please get in touch and come along!

xxxxxx

molly & ellie