Having raised a staggering €550,000 over the past two years for Down Syndrome Ireland (DSI), Tour de Munster, the annual four day charity cycle which sees amateur cyclists cycling over 600km around the six counties of Munster, has once again announced DSI (Munster branches) as its chosen beneficiary of this year’s cycle, which takes place from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th August 2012. 

Fundraiser Michael O’Gorman, who has a son David with Down Syndrome, is delighted to be chosen again this year. 

Michael said “Last year was amazing as Tour De Munster definitely raised the bar by reaching over a mammoth €300,000! We couldn’t have expected more from this great fundraising event and feel extremely honored to have been selected for the third year in a row, as it shows Tour de Munster care just as much about the charity as we do.” 

Michael went on to say: “Our goal in DSI is to assist children born with Down Syndrome to be as independent as possible. To achieve this, it is imperative that when they are young they have access to speech therapy and occupational therapy and as they grow older we want to help them with other areas of their lives such as independent living and employment opportunities. The objective is to ensure that each individual is developed to his/her full potential and to help people with Down Syndrome make their own futures as bright and independent as possible. This all requires a lot of funding however, and through the great work of the Tour de Munster cyclists more young people with Down Syndrome will be helped in a practical way.” 

Tour de Munster organiser Paul Sheridan is already in training for the event and is looking forward to it. Paul said “We’re privileged to be working with Down Syndrome Ireland again this year, as over the last two years we have received a huge amount of support from both the charity and families themselves, who will benefit. We are reminded each time we meet these wonderful children that we are working towards a very worthy cause. We are deeply committed to supporting them by helping to raise funds for vital therapy and training.”

Paul also thanked everyone who has got behind Tour de Munster “We are very grateful to the many companies who’ve already supported the Tour. Our overloaded jersey is a sign of just how much support we have received!  We are now relying on input from the public and we have high hopes for a repeat of the incredible generosity we have received over the past eleven years. The DSI slogan is “Share the Journey” and we hope that our Tour will see a lot of supporters do just that both directly and indirectly. The DSI logo shows ‘helping hands’ and we all have a chance to give a helping hand through the Tour’s fundraising effort. If everyone helps a little then it will help an awful lot.” 

Media partners for this year’s event are the Irish Examiner, Red FM, Spin South West, Clare FM, Tipp FM and WLR FM.This year’s Tour de Munster begins on Thursday 9th and continues over four days until Sunday 12th August 2012.

For up to date information and developments on the Tour please log onto www.tourdemunster.ie or you can follow the Tour on twitter @tourdemunster. 

For further information on Down Syndrome Ireland please see www.downsyndrome.ie