By Dearbhla Geraghty

The memory of a friend who drowned in a tragic swimming accident last summer was the inspiration for three students who cycled 5,000km across Asia this summer – they officially finished their challenge on Friday when they cycled from Limerick back to Galway.

NUIG students, Sean Blank (22) from Taylor’s Hill, John Gaffney (22) from Salthill, and Cóilín (Cole) Collins Smyth (23) from Limerick, have already raised nearly €30,000 for their three chosen charities, The Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, The Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice, and The Jack and Jill Foundation.

The latter was chosen especially in memory of their friend, Keith O’Reilly from Renmore, who had raised money for that charity before his tragic death in Chicago last year.

Determined to find some meaning in this loss they decided to continue Keith’s work, adding the other two charities to their cause under the banner of Cycle Asia 2010.

“We were not into cycling, basically the three of us had no idea of what was laid out ahead of us,” Sean Blank told the Sentinel yesterday. “That turned out to be our biggest blessing because we didn’t know our next step and didn’t know how hard it would be.”

Surprisingly, the trio did not train for nor thoroughly plan this epic journey across Asia – all they knew was that they would start in Shanghai, China, and finish in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

“We had good plans to train but I was in my final year and found it hard, while the other lads were studying medicine and were pretty busy too. In mid-April John was out when he was hit by a car and broke his leg. He was on crutches for six weeks, and only started walking three weeks before, so we did no training – the first day we regretted it but after a week it became routine."

Read more in this week's Connacht Sentinel